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( 
EEVOLUTIONAM INCIDENTS 



SKETCHES OF CHARACTER 



CHIEFLY IN THE 



OLD NORTH STATE.' 



REV. E. W. C ARUTHERS, T).D 



PHILADELPHIA: 

HAYES & ZELL, 193 MARKET STREET. 

1854, 



ENTERED ACCORDING TO THE ACT OF CONGRESS, IN THE YEAR 
EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND FIFTY-FOUR, BY E. W. CARUTHERS, IN 
THE clerk's office OF THE DISTRICT COURT OF THE UNITED 
STATES, IN AND FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA. 



PHILADELPHIA, KING & BAIRD, PRINTERS. 






:0^ 



t5>- 



\ 



CONTENTS 



PART I. 

Page 

The Tory Array— Origin of the Terms Whig and Tory 13 

Causes of Toryism in North Carolina 15 

Regulators — their Origin and History 17 

The Scotch Highlanders 41 

Efforts of Governor Martin and others to engage as many as 

possible in the service of the King 50 

Rendezvous and Organization of the Tory Army 62 

Correspondence between General McDonald, the Scotch Com- 
mander, and General Moore, the American Commander 77 

Attempt of McDonald to reach Wilmington 82 

Battle of Moore's Creek. .A 82 

Consequences of the Battle 88 

Who had the Command of the Patriots 112 

Character of the Commanding OfiSccrs 120 

PART II. 

Whig and Tory Officers — Colonel David Fanning — His Early 

Life 139 

His first Efforts in the Royal Cause 157 

Capture of the Court in Pittsboro', and his Commission as 

Colonel by Major Craig 161 

Battle at McFall's Mill , 171 

Capture of Colonel Philip Alston 180 

Capture of Campbellton, now Fayetteville 191 

Capture of Governor Burke 195 



IV CONTENTS. 

Pat^e 

Pursued by General Cutler 225 

Miscellaneous Deeds of Atrocity 233 

Capture of James Harding 237 

Excursion up Deep River 243 

Capture of Andrew Hunter 273 

Leaves tlae United States for the British Possessions 282 

Subsequent History 284 

Colonel Andrew Balfour 298 

Major Elrod 344 

The Mebanc Family 359 

Captain William Clarke 371 

Colonel Wade and the Affair at the Piney Bottom 382 

The Battle at Elizabethtown, and subsequent transactions.... 397 

Frederick Goss 420 

William Cummings, & Co 424 

Lewis Bowell 428 



PREFACE. 



A FEW prefatory remarks are due both to the 
writer and to the reader ; but they shall be as brief 
as the nature of the case will admit. 

Whoever has been in the habit of attending to the 
operations of his own mind, or of analysing the 
motives by which he was governed, must have 
observed how often, especially in the more impor- 
tant movements of his life, he has been determined 
to one course of conduct rather than another, by 
circumstances over which he had no control. My 
becoming engaged in this work was entirely casual, 
and not from any premeditated design. About thir- 
teen years ago, when collecting materials for another 
small work, the Life of Caldwell, it became necessary 
to traverse the country a little, especially within the 
limits of his former operations ; and, in doing so, I 
was frequently thrown into the company of old men 
who had passed through the scenes of the Revolu- 
tionary war. On such occasions, incidents or anec- 
dotes of that period were sometimes related ; and, if 

1* 



VI niEFACE. 

tliej were at all interesting, I wrote them down with 
my pencil on loose scraps of paper, merely as a pass- 
ing gratification of my curiosity, and threw them into 
a kind of home-made portfolio which I carried with 
me, where they lay for years, undisturbed and un- 
heeded. Two years after, in the summer of 1843, 
when passing through Moore county, I was informed 
by an intelligent friend, whose hospitality I had 
been enjoying, that the late Archibald McBride, who 
was a lawyer of very respectable standing in his pro- 
fession, and a highly esteemed citizen of that county, 
had collected materials during his lifetime, for a 
pretty full history of the war in the Scotch region, 
and had intended to publish the facts which he had 
collected for the benefit of the country, but that 
before he accomplished his object, and about a year 
previous to my visit, he had been arrested by the hand 
of death, and carried to his final resting place. The 
gentleman said he had no doubt that Mr. McBride's 
family would cheerfully put these papers into my 
hands ; but it was then inconvenient for me to call on 
the family ; and at my request he told them that if 
they did not intend making any use of the papers, I 
would be very glad to get theni. Dr. Chalmers, who 
is a son-in-law of Mr. McBride, and had administered 
on the estate, very promptly gathered up all he could 



PREFACE. VU 

find and sent them to me, accompanied by a very 
polite note, giving me an account of the papers, and 
of one or two important transactions in that region. 
It seems that the family, either not knowing that the 
papers were of any value, or too much oppressed by 
their affliction to think of them, had neglected them, 
until the larger portion were destroyed or lost ; but 
those which were preserved contained a number of 
important facts. 

These papers, with the exception of two fragmen- 
tary communications, each of which occupied about 
a sheet of foolscap, consisted of brief memora7ida, 
taken down on scraps of paper, and in the shortest 
possible form ; but I have been able to glean from 
them a number of important facts respecting the 
Tory army, which were then not generally known, 
though some of them have been since published in 
Governor Swain's lecture ; and a great deal relating 
to Colonel Fanning which has never been published, 
and which is not generally known. In the winter of 
1851-2, being confined to my room by bad health 
and the inclemency of the weather, it occurred to me 
that I would make it an afternoon's exercise to write 
off some of these papers, which had been hitherto 
entirely neglected, and see what they were worth. 
At this time I had nothing in view except a little 



Vlll niEFACE. 

gratification of my curiosity, but becoming interested 
as I advanced, I began to think of sending them, a 
piece at a time, to some of the weekly papers. With 
this intention, though not definitely formed, most 
of the work was written ; but some of my friends, in 
whose judgment and candor I had much confidence, 
thought that they ought to be published in a more 
permanent form. The design with which the work 
was written will account for the minute detail of facts 
and some other peculiarities, all of which might have 
been a little modified if it had been originally in- 
toned for publication in its present form ; but neither 
the state of my health nor my regular avocations 
would justify me now in undertaking to re-write and 
remodel the whole; and therefore, with such addi- 
tions and partial alterations as appeared absolutely 
necessary, it is submitted to the public. 

This volume contains only a portion of the facts 
collected, and the publication of the rest will depend 
on the wishes of the community ; for, as we hold the 
maxim to be a good one that every man's perform- 
ances should speak for themselves, we leave our 
readers to judge from the present whether anything 
more of a similar kind would be desirable ; and their 
judgment in the case will, of course, be sufficiently 
indicated by the extent of their patronage. 



PREFACE. 



Having once become interested in the subject, \vhen 
out from home, whether on business or on an excur- 
sion of pleasure, I made it an object to enquire for 
facts, and was more successful than I expected. 
Fortunately, and much to my gratification, I ob- 
tained from squire Troy, of Randolph county, a 
bundle of letters, some thirty or forty in all, and 
containing a family correspondence between some 
persons in that county and their friends in the north 
during the war. From these letters I have been 
enabled to give a pretty full sketch of Colonel Balfour, 
and one which the reader will probably think at least 
equal in interest to any other portion of the volume ; 
but without going further into detail, I take this 
opportunity of acknowledging my obligation for 
assistance to Dr. Chalmers and the family of Mr. 
McBride ; the Rev. Samuel Paisley, of Moore county, 
the Rev. Archibald Smith, of Robeson county; to 
Governor Swain and Dr. Mitchell, of the University ; 
to John B. Troy, of Randolph county ; to George C. 
Mendenhall, Esq., of Jamestown; to Mr. McCree, 
of Wilmington, for some account of General Ashe, 
and to Dr. Wood and Samuel A. Wiley, of Cedar 
Falls, for several incidents and anecdotes in that 
region. 

Nearly the whole of the present work was written 



X PREFACE, 

before the publication of Wheeler's History, or the 
Lectures of Dr. Hawks, and of Governors Swain and 
Graham. Thej have anticipated some things that I 
had written, and I have inserted a few facts taken 
from them. When the Lectures were announced, my 
first impression was that they would supercede what 
I had to say ; but, like all lectures of the kind, they 
are found to be so general in their statements of facts, 
that they interfere very little, if at all, with my plan; 
and it was thought, that if the present volume was, 
in itself, worthy of attention, the way for its publica- 
tion had been thus prepared rather than obstructed. 
At first I thought of nothing more than collecting 
such transactions and events as had not been deemed 
of suflQcient importance for general history; but it 
seemed necessary to notice briefly the important 
events of that period, for the purpose of giving some- 
thing like order and connection to the minor inci- 
dents. There has been no attempt on the part of 
the writer to romance, nor even to embellish facts ; 
for they are romantic enough in themselves ; and 
they are presented in the simple narrative style. My 
object has been to state the truth, fairly and fear- 
lessly ; but in some instances I may have been mis- 
taken ; for hardly any thing of a historical kind, 
relating to North Carolina, can, at present, be written 



PREFACE. XI 

with entire accuracy ; and, although I have taken all 
the pains I could, especially with traditionary ac- 
counts, I claim no merit for any thing more than a 
well meant effort. 

In forming my purpose to publish in the present 
form, two or three considerations had a predominant 
influence. It will be more permanent, and may have 
a wider circulation than any of the weekly papers. 
It seemed desirable that we should know the full cost 
of our liberties ; and especially that the horrors at- 
tending a civil war, should be held up as a warning 
to guard against whatever might have any tendency 
to produce a similar state of things again. It has 
also been remarked to mc, by a number, that any 
thing relating to the revolutionary war, is interesting 
to all classes, and that additional information, how- 
ever small in amount, or inelegant the language in 
which it is presented, will be an acceptable offering 
to the community. Finally, I hoped to make a small 
contribution to the general stock of materials for a 
history of the State ; and this was deemed an import- 
ant matter; for although Williamson's, Martin's, 
and Wheeler's are important in their place, we have 
had nothing yet that deserves the name of a history ; 
but it is hoped that the day is not far distant, when 
some one, who is competent to the task, and has 



Xll PREFACE. 



leisure tliat he can devote to it, ^Yill do himself the 
honor, and the State the service, of writing a history 
which can be regarded as a standard and permanent 
work. 



REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS 



PART I. 

THE TORY AR]HY-ORIGIN OF THE TEEMS WHIG AND TORY. 

The origin of the terms Whig and Tory is not 
very well known at the present day; and neither his- 
tory nor the dictionaries give much assistance on the 
subject. With their application in this country, for 
some time before, and during the war of the Revo- 
lution, as well as ever since, all are familiar ; but 
they were used in Great Britain, to designate the 
political parties of opposite principles, the friends of 
popular rights and the advocates of royal prero- 
gative, before Europeans in any great numbers had 
landed on the American shore, or had formed settle- 
ments of any extent and permanence on the con- 
tinent. 

It seems that they came into general use in Eng- 
land, during the dynasty of the Stuarts ; and proba- 
bly under the reign of the first or second Charles. 
Johnson, in his " Traditions and Reminiscences of 
the American Revolution in the South," says, that 
" The Conventiclers of Scotland, were the first 
Whigs ; and in England, the sturdy advocates for 
old English rights, civil and religious, received the 
same appellation from their opponents. Instead of 



14 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

rejecting, they adopted the designation, as the ex- 
emplary' conduct of the Covenanters had rendered it 
honorable. In return, however, they gave to their 
opponents, the royalists, an epithet of degradation 
and reproach ; the lowest class of the people in Ire- 
land were then called Tories, and were sometimes 
called Popish banditti. It was probably intended at 
the time to embrace the advocates of King James, 
both as religionists and loyalists." 

The term was undoubtedly of Scotch origin, and 
is said to have been first introduced in 1648, imme- 
diately after the failure of Hamilton's expedition for 
the relief of Charles the First. They were first 
called Whiggamores, which, it is said, meant drivers, 
and were afterwards called simply Whigs. This 
term which meant, "go on," was applied by the 
peasants to their horses or cattle, and was probably 
first given by their enemies to these sturdy defenders 
of their rights, by way of reproach. 

Without any reference whatever, to political par- 
ties of the present day, we would like very much, 
merely as a matter of literary and patriotic curiosity, 
to know with entire certainty, the original import of 
the term whig, a term which was some two hundred 
and fifty years ago, used to designate the advocates 
of human rights, and has been ever since associated 
with all the great developments of republican prin- 
ciples ; but this is not necessary to my present pur- 
pose. Webster says in his Dictionary, that "the 
word tory is of Irish origin ; and, in that language, 
meant a roller:' If so, it was with great propriety ap- 



CAUSES OF TORYISM. 15 

plied, first in England, and then in this country, to 
those who were upholding the King, in the exercise 
of a power which was trampling on those fundamen- 
tal and inalienable rights which are essential to the 
highest improvement and welfare of mankind, and is 
therefore, not likely to become obsolete, while there 
are any who will cringe before a despot, or uphold a 
monarch on his throne. 

CAUSES OF TORYISM IN NORTH CAROLINA. 

The Tory army of North Carolina, though re- 
garded until recently with indifference, but now, 
viewed as an important item in the history of the 
State, was an army, or organized body of men, which 
was formed near the beginning of 1776, for the pur- 
pose of aiding the King of England in putting down 
the rebellion, as it was termed, and keeping the 
American colonies in subjection to his authority. It 
was composed chiefly of Regulators and Scotch 
Highlanders, These two classes, though different in 
their origin, in their education, and in their habits, 
were induced by the same cause to take up arms in 
favor of the King and against their country; and 
though greatly misled, the mass of them appear to 
have been conscientious, upright men; but an honest 
mistake if carried out, is sometimes as injurious in 
its results, as a deliberate intention. Error is always 
disastrous, in proportion to its importance, whatever 
may be the motives or designs of those who are ac- 
tively engaged in its propagation ; but for the sake 



16 RKVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

of historical verity, and to do justice to tliose mis- 
guided men, so far as the facts in the case can be 
ascertained, it will be necessary to go back a few 
years, and give a bird's-eye view of the transactions 
and events, in which these two classes of men were 
respectively engaged. 

All the histories of North Carolina, from first to 
last, tell us that this Province, throughout its entire 
history previous to the Declaration of Independence, 
suffered more from the extortions and malpractices 
of the government oiBcers, than any of the others; 
and that the spirit of freedom, which was always 
rife in the country, was often rising up and compell- 
ing these violators of justice and humanity, for a 
time at least, to respect the laws and the chartered 
rights of the people. It seems that all who filled the 
executive chair or held the reins of government in 
North Carolina, from Sir William Berkley down to 
Josiah Martin, with some two or three exceptions, 
had to confront the rising spirit of freedom which 
was abroad in the land ; and those who had the laws 
administered with the greatest fidelity, or who guarded 
a-^ainst the enactment of unconstitutional laws, and 
who had the strictest regard to the civil and religious 
rights of all classes in the community, enjoyed most 
of their gratitude and confidence. So far as facts 
are known, they go to prove that there was not a 
more law-abiding people on the continent ; and they 
never quarreled with any thing except the arbitrary, 
unrighteous and unlawful demands of the public 
functionaries. 



THE REGULATORS. 17 



REGULATORS— THEIR ORIGIN AND HISTORY. 

During the administration of Gov. Tryon, which 
was about six years, the extortions practised by the 
government officers, of every grade below his Excel- 
lency, down to the meanest Constable, became so 
general and so oppressive in most of the upper 
counties, that the people thought they were compelled 
to associate together and take some efficient measures 
for obtaining a redress of their grievances and for 
regulating the disorders which had become so intol- 
erable. From this avowed design of their association, 
as well as from their frequently using the expression, 
" bring things to a true and proper regulation," 
they took the name of Regulators ; and their 
association, including all their movements and pro- 
ceedings, whether legal or illegal, is usually called 
the Regulation. 

About this time there was a set of men in South 
Carolina who were called by the same name and for 
a similar reason ; but the circumstances were differ- 
ent. When the Scotch Irish were emigrating in such 
numbers from Pennsylvania into Virginia and North 
Carolina, many of them, going round by water, 
entered Carolina by the Port of Charleston and 
immediately penetrated into the upper parts of the 
State where they found better lands and a more 
healthy climate. Being moral, industrious and frugal, 
there was nothing more necessary to their temporal 
prosperity and happiness than the protection of law 



18 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

and government; but this was "wanting, and tlieir 
situation became both trying and perilous. Counties 
had not been regularly laid off nor courts of justice 
established beyond Charleston and its immediate 
vicinity until within six or seven years before the 
Declaration of Independence. After the war with 
France, which was terminated by the peace of Paris, 
in 1763, multitudes of soldiers were disbanded and 
left to follow their own inclinations. Many of them, 
as Johnson tells us in his traditions of the Revolu- 
tion, came into South Carolina and went back into 
the remote parts of the State, where they would be 
free from the restraints of government. These law- 
less intruders, who were too indolent to work, and 
had all the reckless habits of a corrupted soldiery, by 
associating with the Indians, French and Spaniards 
bordering on the frontiers, frequently made incur- 
sions into the settlements of the peaceable, industri- 
ous citizens, and caused great distress by seizing their 
negroes, cattle and horses, burning their houses, 
barns and provisions, and then making their escape 
to the savage hordes, who were waiting to receive 
them. When any of these depredators were cap- 
tured, as they had to be taken a hundred and fifty 
or two hundred miles to the courts of law, many of 
them made their escape ; and the captors, having 
to guard their prisoners to such a distance for trial 
and afterwards to attend as witnesses, found their 
hardships too intolerable to be borne, and it could 
not be expected that they would submit to such a 
state of things much longer. 



THE REGULATORS. 19 

In addition to all this, either from some deficiency 
in the evidence necessary to their conviction, or from 
the want of sufficient integrity and firmness in the 
officers of government, these disturbers of the peace 
often escaped the punishment which they deserved, 
and then returned to their old haunts with a spirit of 
revenge, and with feelings of imbittered hostility 
towards their prosecutors. Finding no relief from 
the constituted authorities, the most respectable in- 
habitants associated together in their own defence, 
and adopted such regulations as their circumstances 
seemed to require. They called themselves Regu- 
lators, and often took summary justice on their 
enemies, who, finding themselves subjected to punish- 
ment without the formality of legal process, appealed 
to the Governor for protection, and he sent Col. 
Schovel, as commissioner to adjust their difficulties ; 
but instead of acting impartially and redressing the 
grievances on both sides, he armed the depredators, 
afterwards called the Schofilites, and paraded them 
for battle. " When on the eve of bloodshed, some 
more considerate persons interposed, and they both 
sent delegates to the Governor, claiming relief. The 
Governor and Council saw the source of the difficul- 
ties ; and, in 1769, seven new courts, with suitable 
jails and court houses, were established in different 
parts of the back country. By these established 
courts, the honest Regulators gained all that they 
wanted, and many dishonest Schofilites got what they 
had long merited — suitable punishment for their 
offences." These Schofilites were Tories during the 



20 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

war, but the Regulators, though thcj had been treated 
more kindly by the civil authorities than those in 
North Carolina were, with the patriots in the struggle 
for freedom and independence. 

In North Carolina, counties were laid off and courts 
of law established as fast perhaps as the increasing 
settlements seemed to require ; but the laws were not 
faithfully observed and administered by those in 
office. On and near the sea coast the people had 
been longer settled ; they were convenient to market ; 
and, with the advantages of foreign commerce, they 
had increased in wealth and general intelligence, 
much beyond the new settlers in the back country. 
The influence of the wealthy and intelligent at the 
seat of government and in the contiguous counties 
was probably sufficient to prevent any extortions or 
oppressive exactions on the part of the civil officers ; 
but as you receded from the Governor's residence, in 
almost any direction, these minions of power became 
more bold and reckless, until in the counties farthest 
to the west, the government was hardly known, except 
as a burden. 

The conduct of the government officers during 
Tryon's administration, especially of the clerks, 
sheriffs, &c., would be almost incredible to people of 
the present day ; and I shall not go into any detail 
of their malpractices in office ; for that would be out 
of place in the present work; but one or two facts 
as specimens of the whole, may not be improper. 
Col. Edmund Fanning, clerk of the court in Hills- 
boro', was allowed, by law, one dollar for recording 



THE REGULATORS. 21 

a deed ; but he made the people over the country 
pay a half Johannes, which was eight dollars ; and 
he was in the habit of extorting unlawful fees 
wherever and whenever it could be done. John 
Frohawk, clerk of the court in Salisbury, was no 
better ; and there were very few who held the same 
office in any of the upper counties, against whom 
similar charges might not be made. Instead of a 
dollar, which was probably the legal fee for a mar- 
riage license, they made the people pay five or six 
dollars ; and hardly ever less than a guinea. This 
was intolerable ; and in some parts of the country, 
the people, being able to get no redress by law, bid 
them defiance, and married in Quaker style, by sim- 
ply promising, in the presence of witnesses, to take 
each other for husband and wife. The sheriffs, 
deputy sheriffs and constables were equally rapacious ; 
and, although they had to be content with what the 
law allowed, from men of intelligence, wealth and 
influence, they invariably demanded two or three 
times the legal tax from those who either did not 
know what was lawful, or who could not meet the 
enormous costs of a suit in court ; for they could get 
no redress, but would be extorted upon and oppressed 
worse than ever if they carried it to court ; nor did 
they seem to have any respect to the age, or sex, or 
circumstances of the people, except to stand in awe 
of those who were intelligent, wealthy and influen- 
tial. For proof of this, one fact may suffice and 
serve as a specimen of many others. 

In the county of Orange, and not fur from the 



22 . IlEVOLUTlUNAllY INCIDENTS. 

present site of Chapel Hill, when the sheriff was going 
over the country distraining and selling the property 
of every man who did not instantly pay the amount 
of tax demanded, accompanied too, by his deputies, 
and perhaps some others, well armed and attending 
him as a life guard, he came to the house of a poor 
man who was not at home ; but, as if determined not 
to be wholly disappointed in his object, and not find- 
ing any thing else, or not enough of any thing else, 
to satisfy his demands, he took off his wife's dress, 
which she had on at the time, and which she had made 
with her own hands, sold it under the hammer for her 
husband's tax ; and then, giving her a box or a slap with 
his hand, told her to go and make another. This was 
related to me, some fourteen or fifteen years ago, by 
an old gentleman of respectability in that region ; and 
he gave it merely as illustrative of the course pursued 
by the "tax gatherers " in that quarter. When the 
writer first came into this part of the country, he was 
told by old men of great respectability, who were then 
living, and who well remembered " the former times," 
that the people were imposed upon and oppressed to a 
degree that w^as really intolerable, and yet they could 
get no redress by peaceable or legal methods. 

At that time, what is now Guilford County, was 
about equally divided between Rowan and Orange. 
The dividinor line ran from north to south, about four 
miles east from the present site of Greensboro'; and 
this subjected a large portion of the inhabitants to 
great hardship in attending to their civil and military 
duties as citizens. Those v,-ho lived in the north-west 



THE REGULATOR?. 23 

of Orange had to travel fifty or sixty miles when 
they attended court, or had any business in Hillsboro' ; 
and those who lived in the north and north-east of 
Rowan, had to travel seventy-five or eighty miles to 
attend court in Salisbury. This was felt to be a great 
inconvenience, but was not complained of as a griev- 
ance ; and when Guilford, with two or three other 
counties, were formed of portions taken from Orange 
and Rowan, by the legislature, which met December 
5th, 1770, in accordance with the wishes of Tryon, 
it was done to divide and weaken the Regulators, not 
to gratify or accommodate the people. 

At length they concluded, in Orange, that they 
would try the courts of law to see whether anything 
like justice could be obtained there, or whether the 
" ermine had lost its purity." For this purpose they 
made common cause, and, by a contribution from all 
concerned, raised an amount sufficient to defray the 
costs of suit, which they expected would be enormous. 
Six indictments for extortion, or taking illegal fees 
were proved on Fanning beyond dispute, in one court, 
and when Tryon was present, or in the town ; but he 
was fined only sixpence or a penny, and was thus 
encouraged to go on in the same course. The judges, 
instead of making him an example, seemed to connive 
at his conduct, and the people were left without any 
hope of relief. When these cases were pending in 
the Hillsboro' court, the people in Rowan, as I have 
always been told, were waiting to see the result ; and 
if those in Orange had succeeded, they would imme- 
diately have taken the same course with Frohawk in 



24 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

Salisbury court. The same would have been done in 
other courts ; for in most of the back counties, the 
state of things was very little if any better ; but on 
learning the result of the trial in Hillsboro', they 
concluded that it would be useless ; and no further 
effort was made. 

As a body, it does not appear that they ever re- 
fused to pay the legal fees and taxes, but only such 
as were unlawful and consequently unjust. They had 
tried the courts of law where they met with little 
more than a mockery of justice and could hardly get 
a patient hearing. They had repeatedly made their 
complaints to the Governor, and petitioned him for a 
redress of their grievances ; but received only decep- 
tive promises, which were not intended to be fulfilled, 
or haughty denunciations and tyrannical threats, 
which neither Scotch, Irish, nor Anglo Saxons would 
bear. The only thing that now remained for them 
to do, as they thought, was to protect their property 
and their families, in the best way they could, from 
the rapacity of the government officers ; and they 
agreed that they would pay no more illegal fees or 
taxes. The officers distrained their property and sold 
it under the hammer, commonly taking four or five, 
and often ten times as much as the law required, 
regardless alike of justice and humanity. 

By such treatment, angry and revengeful feelings 
were excited on the part of the people ; and the 
officers, resolved not to be out done, were sometimes 
insulted, and even prevented from selling or retain- 
ing the property. Some outrages were committed, 



THE REGULATORS. 25 

which, under the existing circumstances, may be pal- 
liated, but cannot be justified. These counties were 
declared to be in a state of rebellion, and an armed 
force was raised to compel their submission. The 
Governor had some regular troops, with a few pieces 
of artillery at his command; and the militia of the 
contiguous counties, were summoned to attend him 
on a military expedition up the country for this pur- 
pose. When this became known in the region which 
was to be the scene of operations, the leaders sent 
out word in every direction, calling upon all who felt 
the oppressions of government, and desired to have 
their wrongs redressed, to rendezvous at, or near to 
the place, which was afterwards the scene of conflict. 
A battle was fought, and the result is now well 
known. The Regulators were defeated, and were 
made the victims of arbitrary power. A number of 
those who were supposed to be ringleaders, or promi- 
nent and influential men in the country, were taken 
prisoners, some were taken on the ground, and some 
in the neighborhood shortly after ; and several of 
them were executed in the course of a few days at 
Hillsborough. Immediately after the battle, the 
Governor marched his victorious army over the 
country, plundering the inhabitants of their pro- 
perty, and compelling them to take an oath of alle- 
giance to King George — an oath which he had coined 
himself, and which bound them to take up arms for 
the King when required. The precise number killed 
and wounded on either side is not known with entire 

certainty, nor is it now of much importance. The 

3 



26 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

bearing which this whole Regulation movement had 
on the struggle for Independence, will be seen after- 
wards ; but, a word or two in passing, respecting the 
character of these men, for intelligence and probity, 
may not be out of place. 

The Regulators have been represented, not only 
at the time, but for many years afterwards, as an 
ignorant and drunken set, an unprincipled and law- 
less rabble, whose main object was to vent their spite 
at an individual, or to break down all government, 
and produce a state of anarchy ; but there were so 
many men in most of the upper counties, engaged in 
that affair, who were then, as their descendants are 
now, among the most- sensible, upright and respect- 
able people in the country, that such a charge was 
manifestly and grossly unjust. Most of them had 
enjoyed the advantages of a Christian training, and 
at that time had the ministrations of able and de- 
voted men. The parishioners of such men as Patillo, 
McAden, Caldwell, Balch, Craighead, McWhorter, 
McCaule, and others, who were little, if at all, in- 
ferior to ministers of the present day, were probably 
something more than semi-barbarians, and were not 
likely to be an unprincipled and lawless rabble ; but 
many from the congregations of these men were not 
only united with the mass of the Regulators in their 
addresses, petitions, and all their legal methods of 
obtaining a redress of their grievances, but were 
actually engaged in the battle. 

Nearly all in these upper counties, except such as 
were in office, or were bound to the government party 



THE REGULATORS. 27 

by relationsliip, or by gratitude for past favors, were 
actively engaged in the cause, or sympathised with 
those, who were so engaged ; but many, from pruden- 
tial considerations, refrained from taking any active - 
part. That the Regulators were not a drunken set, 
mif^ht be safely inferred from the fact, that they 
excluded spirits from their places of meeting; and 
also, from the fact that many of them, had a fair 
standing as members, in churches of different deno- 
minations. If any dependence is to be put in their 
uniform professions, public and private, their mani- 
festos, petitions and addresses, they were not an un- 
principled and lawless rabble, aiming to subvert all 
government, and to disturb the peace and good order 
of society ; but if they had been grossly ignorant, or 
intemperate, or destitute of moral principle, a man of 
so much shrewdness, so much experience in military 
operations, and so much loyalty to his sovereign, as 
Josiah Martin, would not have conferred on them or 
many of them, the offices of trust and responsibility 
which he did. 

Soon after Tryon returned to Newberne from his 
famous expedition against the Regulators, he was 
transferred to New York, perhaps as a reward for 
the extraordinary abilities which he had displayed, 
and the signal services which he had rendered in the 
late campaign. Josiah Martin was appointed his 
successor, and in a few weeks, August 11th, 1771, 
entered upon the duties of his office. As his object 
was to pacify and conciliate, his first act was to 
denounce the extortions and corrupt practices of the 



28 REVULUTlONAllY INCIDENTS. 

officers ^Yho had been the cause of the late distur- 
bances. At the same time he condemned the extrava- 
gance and profligacy of his predecessor ; and, at the 
ensuing legislature, had an act passed, which was 
done with great unanimity, granting pardon for all 
past oiFenccs, and drawing the veil of oblivion over 
all the distinctions and animosities to which the late 
disturbances had given rise. In the spring he set 
out on a tour through the disaffected counties, and 
spent a good part of the summer in efforts to ingra- 
tiate himself with the people. He took pains to find 
out and become acquainted with prominent or leading 
characters among the Regulators, and gain them 
over to his interest. Courteous in his manners and 
condescending to all classes, he was quite successful 
in conciliating that class of the community. In 
Guilford county there were four brothers by the 
name of Fields, men of intelligence, property and 
influence, whom he visited at their own houses, and 
he succeeded so well in winning their confidence and 
good will that they remained faithful to King George 
during the war. They were attached, as I have been 
told, to the Episcopal church, while it was established 
by law ; but now they had no instructions from the 
pulpit to direct them in the path of duty, and were 
left, like too many others over the country, to the 
guidance of their own consciences. So far as I have 
learned, or can judge from the localities of their 
residence, nearly all who, during the war, were 
entrusted with office by the British authorities or 
took up arms in support of the King, lived beyond 



THE REGULATORS. ^9 

the reach of Presbyterian churches, and had, in fact, 
no regular instruction from ministers of any regular 
denomination of christians. 

If this were so, it may be regarded as illustrative 
of the fact, now admitted by all the intelligent and 
sober thinking, that we are indebted for our liberties 
to the Bible and its institutions. The mass of the 
Regulators appear to have been honest and conscien- 
tious. It was a common saying among them, or that 
portion of them whom we are now considering, that 
" they must not violate their oath, for that would 
be giving themselves to the devil at once ;" and if 
they erred, as they certainly did, it was for want of 
better information. I infer this from the fact that 
so many of them, who had more ample means of 
instruction, were not Tories, but decided Whigs in the 
Revolution. In the Presbyterian congregations of 
Guilford county, there were many who not only had 
attended their meetings and joined in the peaceful 
measures adopted by the Regulators for obtaining 
relief from their oppressions, but were engaged in 
the battle, yet not one of them took sides with the 
loyalists during the war, but were all active and 
efficient Whigs. So it was in other Presbyterian 
congregations ; and, I presume, the same might, 
perhaps, be said of many who were attached to 
churches of other denominations, where they were 
properly enlightened in the great principles of moral 
obligation. It is stated in Dr. Hawkes' Lecture, 
and I think also in Foote's Sketches, that there were 
some among the signers of the Mecklenburg Declara- 



30 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

tion who, having been llegulators, and taken the 
oath of allegiance, could not conscientiously sign that 
Declaration until their scruples were removed, yet 
no one at the present day would charge them with 
ignorance, intemperance or recklessness. That there 
were many calling themselves Regulators who com- 
mitted some disorders which could not be justified; 
even in their circumstances, and who were really no 
better than rowdies, is more than probable ; and so 
there were hundreds associated with the Whigs, 
during the struggle for Independence, who were 
quite as ignorant, vicious and unprincipled as any of 
the Regulators ; but they could not be identified in 
character with the great body of patriots who so 
bravely and successfully maintained the conflict, nor 
could they bring any just or lasting reproach on the 
noble cause, in support of which, as sensible and good 
men, they had staked every thing most dear to them. 
It might still be thought by some, that the Regu- 
lators must have been an ignorant and lawless set, who, 
like the poor and thriftless generally, were dissatis- 
fied with their condition, and were complaining of 
evils, for which they were themselves chiefly respon- 
sible ; or that their wrongs, if any, were only of a 
personal kind, and that they were not contending 
for great principles, when such men as Colonels 
Ashe, Caswell and others, who were so active and 
efficient in the war of the Revolution, took sides with 
the governor in compelling their submission. With- 
out spending time in discussing matters of this kind, 
which would be deemed unnecessary at the present 



THE REGULATORS. SI 

day, we would simply say that the conduct of those 
patriotic men, in aiding the governor to put down 
the Regulators, admits of an ample vindication on 
other grounds ; and to be satisfied of this, we have 
only to look at the facts in the case. Their intelli- 
gence, wealth and personal influence, raised them 
above the herd of clerks and tax gatherers. Be- 
sides they lived more contiguous to the palace, where 
such malpractices were hardly known, and were on 
terms of intimacy with the Governor, who would 
soon have ruined himself, if he had suffered his 
friends and acquaintances, to be thus imposed on by 
these needy dependents. Of course, they could not 
be expected to know the impositions practised upon 
the people further back ; and therefore they were 
justifiable in lending their co-operation in putting 
down what was deemed to be an unjustifiable resist- 
ance of the constituted authorities. But the people 
who were thus oppressed, believed they were contend- 
ing for principle, as much as the people of Boston, 
when three years after, they threw the tea overboard ; 
or the Sons of Liberty, when they compelled the 
stamp agent, a few years before, to take an oath 
that he would not force the stamps upon them ; 
or the Continental Congress, when they renounced 
all allegiance to Great Britain. Independence had 
not then been whispered, or hardly thought of by 
any one ; but the mass of them knew very well, that 
the end of government was the security and welfare 
of the people ; and they considered that their rights 
as British subjects, and a fundamental principle of 



32 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

their chartered privileges was violated, when their 
property was taken from them without their consent, 
whether bj an act of Parliament, or by the officers 
of the government, ad libitum. They asked for 
nothing more than to be taxed and governed, ac- 
cording to law ; but their petitions could not reach 
the throne ; their complaints were unheeded ; they 
could obtain no redress from any source ; and they 
felt that they were goaded on to a kind of desperation. 
The result of the battle with the Governor was 
adverse to the Regulators, but was, on the whole, 
fortunate for the country, and should be regarded as 
Providential. If the Governor had been twenty- 
four hours later in arriving at their place of rendez- 
vous, any attempt to subdue them by force would 
have been useless, or, in all probability, he would 
never have seen his palace again. Capt. Merrill, 
with three hundred men, from the region of the 
Yadkin, probably Rowan, or what is now Davidson 
county, was on his way^to the place of meeting, and 
was within an easy day's march, when he heard of 
the battle and its results. His men dispersed, but 
he was taken and executed at Hillsboro'. On the 
evening before the battle, Capt. Raleigh Southerland, 
with about a hundred and fifty men under his com- 
mand, from Surry and the north side of Rowan, 
passed by the house of David Edwards, who lived 
some three or four miles nearly south of New Garden 
meeting house, on his way to join the rest. As it 
was then late in the evening, he went only four or 
five miles and took up camp. In the course of the 



THE llEGULATORS. 33 

night his horse got a\Yay, and in the morning he 
returned to Edwards' in search of him. While there 
he heard the cannon, and wept like a child, because he 
was not there to unite with his countrymen, " who," 
to use his owm language, " were shedding their blood 
in defence of their rights." Such a man, we doubt 
not, would have fought; and his men were sharp- 
shooters, experienced hunters, hardy and fearless 
mountaineers, who, under a resolute leader, would 
have done their part. Others were probably on their 
way, and if only these two corps, under Merrill and 
Southerland, had arrived at the scene of action in 
time, the fate of the day would have been different ; 
but as the people of the other provinces were not 
prepared to make common cause with them, the 
people of North Carolina would have been made to 
feel the crushing power of the mother country, and 
the east would then and in that case, have been 
arrayed against the west, in that most unnatural of 
all wars, a civil war. Verily there is a God who 
rules over the affairs of men and appoints to the 
nations their bounds, and the times of their rise and 
fall. 

In the former contests which the people had with 
their governor, they were generally overcome or did 
not fully accomplish their object, except, perhaps, in 
the case of the stamps ; but they always gained a lit- 
tle more wisdom and a little more strength by every 
successive defeat. This resistance of the Regulators 
to the encroachments of power, though apparently an 
utter failure at the time, is believed to have had a 



34 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

salutary effect on the cause of independence. Their 
fate very much resembled the fate Avhich generally 
attends those who commence revolutions in govern- 
ment. The combination and the movement can 
hardly ever be general and simultaneous at first. 
Those who are most oppressed, or who are peculiarly 
sensitive and feel their wrongs most keenly, or who, 
by their intelligence and intrepidity, are best quali- 
fied to be leaders, commonly make the first resist- 
ance ; and that resistance, from the want of sufficient 
numbers, preparation and experience, is very apt to 
be a failure. Thus the first who resist often become 
the victims of arbitrary power ; but from their defeat 
others see what was wanting ; and from what they 
have achieved others see what may be done again. 
From the courage which they have displayed in the 
face of danger and of death, others have their confi- 
dence in the goodness of the cause, or in their own 
capabilities, increased and are emboldened to act. By 
their sufferings, the sympathies of those who have 
shared in the same perils or oppressive measures are 
excited; and by the death of those who have fallen, 
others, especially their friends or fellow-sufferers, are 
fired with a spirit of revenge. So it w^as with the 
Regulators and with all who acted with them, or who 
felt that their common rights and interests were at 
stake. They failed, and some of them were sacrificed 
on the altar of liberty ; but the cause was a righteous 
one, and from this event, assumed an increased im- 
portance. The spirit of freedom, instead of being 
quenched, was nourished by their blood. They fell, 



THE REGULATORS. 35 

but the cause advanced. Disaster and defeat may 
for a time, retard, but cannot arrest the progress of 
truth and freedom. With every increase of know- 
ledge, in regard to the value of their rights, people 
always feel an increased assurance of their final 
triumph. 

To any one of a philosophical or reflecting cast of 
mind, it is interesting to observe, not only the slow 
progress of the people at that day in the knowledge 
of their rights, and their determination to maintain 
them, but the causes and means by which they were 
often influenced to take one side or the other of the 
great question at issue. The mass of the Whigs took 
their stand from an intelligent appreciation of their 
rights; and most of the Regulators who became loya- 
lists, were led by a sacred but not a very enlightened 
regard to the oath whicht hey had taken to the king. 
Some, whose perceptions were not very clear, or 
whose nerves were not very strong, were non liguets 
and remained neutral, and some were decided by a 
mere casual or incidental occurrence. Ten or twelve 
years ago, Jesse Julian, who had lived all his life 
near the dividing line between Randolph and Guil- 
ford counties, and who died only a year or two after 
the date above mentioned, an old man and full of 
days, highly respected in that region as a citizen, 
a neighbor and a member of the church, gave me, in 
his own house, the following account of himself and 
his father's family. 

He was too young to be in the battle between the 
Regulators and the government troops, being then 



36 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

only about thirteen or fourteen years of age ; but his 
father and two of his older brothers were in the en- 
gagement, and his oldest brother was pretty severely 
w^ounded. His father and these two brothers were 
then compelled to take the oath of allegiance to King 
George, and when independence was declared they 
refused to join the Americans, but took no active part 
against them. Jesse was for some time much per- 
plexed in his mind, as he told me, to know what 
course he ought to take ; for, although his heart was 
with his countrymen, who were struggling for liberty, 
he was still quite young, and found it very difficult to 
resist the influence of his friends and neighbors who, 
having been all engaged in the conflict with the go- 
vernor, and having been compelled to take the oath 
of allegiance, were now in conscience and honor 
bound, as they thought, to be for the King. 

While in this state of mind, he was suddenly drafted 
and sent off with the expedition to Georgia, under 
General Ashe. There he was captured with some 
four or five hundred others, and sent into the British 
camp. As they entered the encampment, a Tory who 
happened to be in it, began to cry out most vocifer- 
ously for King George. " Hurra for King George ! 
I'm for King George, and I always Avas for King 
George!" "Yes," said a British Captain, who was 
standing by, "yes, I'm for King George, too, but it 
is only because I live in England. If I lived in 
America I would be for America;" and then uttered 
the hardest sort of an imprecation on any man who 
■would go against his country. The Tory, mortified 



THE REGULATORS. 37 

and confounded, sneaked away ; and this had its due 
effect upon Julian. He said it satisfied him that the 
Tories got no thanks anywhere for their toryism, but 
were as much despised by the British as by their own 
countrymen ; and from that time he was a decided 
and confirmed Whig. 

When the Black Boys of Mecklenburg, who were 
Regulators in fact, for they were co-operating with 
them in the most effectual manner, — destroyed Gene- 
ral Waddell's powder, there were two brothers* con- 
cerned in the affair, but on opposite sides ; one of 
whom, though he sympathised with the Regulators, 
had taken no active part in their measures, and was 
now driving one of the ammunition waggons ; the 
other was a "Black Boy," and is said to have been 
the one who made the train for blowing up the kegs 
of powder. Yet both of these brothers were thorough- 
going Whigs during the war. Little incidents almost 
without number might be given, showing the state of 
popular feeling, and how many were determined, one 
way or the other, by the amount of their intelligence, 
their constitutional temperament, their connexions in 
society, and other causes, but it is unnecessary. " The 

* These two brothers were James Caruthcrs and Robert Caru- 
thers. Amidst the hurry and bustle of their preparation for the 
explosion, Jim recognized his brother Bob, notwithstanding the 
lampblack on his face ; and in a low voice which was not heard 
by anybody else, said to him: "You'll rue this, Bob." "Hold 
your tongue, Jim," said Bob, and went on with his work. Robert, 
the one who was a Black Boy, was a partizan officer during the 
war, and is said to have been a man of great courage and entcr- 
pvize. 

4 



88 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

Black Boys," it is believed, were all Whigs during the 
war, unless the two who proved treacherous to their 
comrades, violated their oath of secrecy by turning 
informers, and thus brought on themselves a foul and 
lasting reproach, might be an exception. 

In his interesting and valuable Lecture on the 
British invasion of North Carolina in 1776, Governor 
Swain has stated " that the Regulators had a decided 
preference for Prince Edward to the reigning mon- 
arch;" and it would not be at all strange if it were 
so ; because it was perfectly natural for them, in their 
circumstances, to conclude that their condition could 
not be made worse, but might be made better by a 
change of dynasty, or at least of the reigning sov- 
ereign. 

In enumerating the causes which retarded or gave 
final success to such an event as the American Revo- 
lution, every thing in the existing circumstances or 
previous training and habits of the people, should be 
taken into account. The better informed, or more 
enterprising of the Scotch, engaged in mercantile 
pursuits and spread themselves, in larger or smaller 
numbers, according to circumstances, over the whole 
country ; and Governor Swain first suggested to me 
the fact, or the strong probability, that they exerted 
a successful influence in turning many over to the 
wrong side. That there were stores kept by Scotch- 
men in nearly every county, both in the towns and 
country locations, there is no doubt ; for many of 
them continued long after the war ; but to what ex- 
tent they exerted an influence unfavorable to the 



THE REGULATORS. 89 

cause of patriotism, it is impossible to say. There 
were many noble Whigs even in the midst of the 
Scotch settlements, and some of those scattered over 
the country were, no doubt, as patriotic and as true 
to their country as any others. Those who lived in 
strong Whig regions would be obliged to go for inde- 
pendence or leave the country ; but others who were 
in locations where they could keep their places and 
their opinions too, might retain their predilections, if 
they had any, for the pretender, and exert an unfa- 
vorable influence on the people in the vicinity of their 
residence. A man in mercantile business, and espe- 
cially at such a time, acquires a general knowledge 
of men and things, and a shrewdness of character 
which he otherwise would not have, and which must 
place him above the mass around him. Not only 
poor at first, but being far from market, and having 
land to clear for cultivation, common farmers, with 
great industry and economy, could hardly make the 
two ends of the year meet, and the best of farmers 
could do very little more. Many of them would get 
in the merchant's debt, and be at his mercy. Others 
would feel under obligations to him for favors con- 
ferred or indulgence given ; and the rest would be 
miade to feel that " knowledge is power." Such a 
man, under these circumstances, could do a great deal 
for or against his country, especially if he had been 
made a Justice of the Peace, and then carried on a 
distillery. 

The number of Regulators, even the more substan- 
tial and influential part of them, cannot be now ascer- 



-10 REVULUTlONAllY INCIDENTS. 

tained witli anything like an approximation- to the 
truth ; but that it was much greater, and included a 
wider extent of country than has been commonly sup- 
posed, may be inferred from the fact that Col. Bryan 
could, on the spur of the occasion, collect about eight 
hundred men in the Forks of the Yadkin, and march 
them off to the British at Anson Court-house. Go- 
vernor Martin, having by enquiry and personal 
acquaintance, ascertained who among them were 
most competent and trustworthy, gave them military 
c >mmissions in the service of his Majesty, and endea- 
vored, by every available means, to secure their 
fidelity and their active co-operation. The character 
and standing of these men, or most of them, are pro- 
bably better known to my readers than to myself. 
Those who lived in the region in which I have been 
most acquainted, seem to have been regarded, pre- 
vious to the Declaration of Independence at least, as 
honorable in all the relations of life, and were much 
esteemed as men and as citizens. According to tra- 
dition and to all the testimony given on their trial 
towards the close of the war. Col. Bryan and Col. 
Hampton of Rowan county, were men of unimpeacha- 
ble character, and had nothing laid to their charge, 
except that of bearing arms against their country. 
Col. William Spurgien who lived in what is now 
Davidson county, had the confidence of the neighbor- 
hood for his integrity, and was regarded as being in 
every respect, an estimable man. The same may be 
said of the Fields' who lived in the south side of Guil- 
ford county, and their descendants are now as true- 



THE SCOTCH HIGHLANDERS. 41 

hearted Americans as any others. Of the four bro- 
thers, by the name of Fields, who were Regulators 
and became active loyalists, John, the youngest, had 
a crippled hand, and took no part in military opera- 
tions ; Robert was disposed to be reckless and cruel ; 
Jeremiah was much respected by both parties ; and 
AVilliam, who received the commission of Colonel, 
stood fair as a man of humane and honorable feel- 
ings. If I mistake not, he became a consistent 
member of the Methodist church, and had the entire 
confidence of his neighborhood. Probably as much 
might be said for most of the others ; but neither 
my limits nor my knowledge of their character will 
admit of further detail. I have been thus particular, 
partly because I like to have justice done even to 
an enemy ; but chiefly on account of the additional 
proof which it furnishes, that the Regulation em- 
braced a wider scope of country, had engaged in it 
more men of intelligence and respectable standing, 
and was really a more serious affair in its character 
and results than was represented at the time by the 
government party and subsequently by the early 
historians who had probably no other means or 
facilities for ascertaining the truth than Gov. Tryon 
himself. 



THE SCOTCH HIGHLANDERS. 

The first settlements of the Scotch in North Caro- 
lina, like those of the Germans, Scotch, Irish and 



42 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

most Other classes of our population, are very much 
like the things before the Flood. How many com- 
posed the first emigration, from what motives, or for 
what reasons they were induced to leave their " Father- 
land," when they came, and their precise location, 
are all matters which have now passed beyond our 
reach; but it is stated in Foote's Sketches, that there 
were some Scotch families on the Cape Fear as early 
as 1729, when the province passed from the hands of 
the proprietors to those of the King ; and from that 
time families or small parties, were frequently coming 
over, as considerations of duty, interest cr affection 
prompted, to join the pioneers who had gone before 
them until 1745, when many of the Highland Chief- 
tains with their clans, rebelled against the reigning 
sovereign George II., in favor of the Pretender, 
Prince Charles Edward, and were defeated with great 
slaughter at the memorable battle of Culloden. From 
that time the emigrations were large and frequent, in- 
creasing in numbers and importance almost every 
year, until the Declaration of Independence. Many 
of those who fell into the hands of the victors at the 
battle of Culloden, or were captured soon afterwards, 
were pardoned on condition that they would emigrate 
to America; and others were so oppressed by the 
exactions of government and so deprived of the great 
privilege for which they had already endured almost 
incredible hardships,, the privilege of worshipping God 
according to the dictates of their own consciences, 
that they felt compelled to leave all the endearments 
of their native land for that freedom which was to be 



THE SCOTCH HIGHLANDERS. 43 

enjoyed in the new world ; but before thej were per- 
mitted to leave the shores of old England, they had 
all to take a solemn oath that they would be good and 
faithful subjects of King George. This continued 
until the war, or rather until our Independence was 
acknowledged; and there was a corresponding differ- 
ence in the course which the emigrants took in the 
war of the Revolution; for, so far as I have been 
able to learn, those who came over previous to the 
year 1746, not being bound by the same oath, they 
or their descendants, were in favor of Independence ; 
but those who came over after that date, having taken 
the oath, were, with some honorable exceptions, loya- 
lists, and rallied round the standard of the reigning 
sovereign. 

That there are a great many atheistical, unprincipled 
and worthless people, everywhere and at all times, is 
too notorious to be doubted; but the Scotch people, 
taken as a whole, have generally been regarded as 
feeling more solemnly bound by their oath, than any 
others, and I have been told by native Scotchmen, 
who were pretty well acquainted with Scotish history, 
that in the high court of Edinboro', notwithstanding 
all the vigilance and careful enquiry into the matter 
on the part of the court, only four cases of perjury 
had been known in a hundred years. . Perhaps this 
should be considered as proof of the excellence and 
wide spread influence of their educational system, in 
which the bible was always made the most important 
book ; and also of the pains which had been taken 
by parents and teachers of every class or grade, to 



41 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

cherish in the minds of the young, a scrupulous regard 
to truth, especially when the omniscient One was 
invoked as a witness. Governor Martin, as well 
as Governor Tryon, and the British Ministry, knew 
perfectly well what a stronghold they had got by this 
means on the Regulators and Highlanders of North 
Carolina ; and as appears from the most ample testi- 
mony, they were neither remiss nor unwary in im- 
proving their advantage. 

The Scotch settlement extended from the Ocean, 
far up the Cape Fear and Deep Rivers, and from 
these rivers to the Pedee. This space included eight 
or ten of our present counties, and these were settled 
almost exclusively by Highlanders. In addition to 
their sacred regard for the obligation of an oath, 
they had been for many generations, accustomed to a 
kingly government, and they seemed to think that no 
other was admissable. They seem to have always 
had the elements of republicanism, especially in mat- 
ters of religion ; for at all times and under all cir- 
cumstances, they held the right of worshipping God 
according to their understanding of His Word, as one 
of vital importance. From the beginning, or from 
the time when they first received Christianity, which 
was at a very early period, they chose their own pas- 
tors and teachers, and, according to an old Church 
History in my possession, they never had a bishop 
until the year 839, when one was forced upon them 
by the Pope, and had his residence fixed at St. 
Andrews. From that time, until the Reformation, 
the freedom which they had enjoyed in the worship 



THE feCOTCIl HIGHLANDERS. 45 

of God, was at an end, but they were restive, dissatis- 
fied, and never submitted their understanding and 
conscience to priestly domination. 

In all periods of their authentic history, it seems 
they must have a king ; but as they believed that a 
royal government was the only one sanctioned in the 
bible, but he must be a man after their own heart, 
and he must be bound by oaths and covenants, like 
the Jewish kings of old, to serve the God of the 
bible; while he maintained the true religion and 
ruled in moderation, he was their rightful sovereign, 
and there never was, or could be, a more loyal and 
devoted people. He was " the Lord's annointed," 
and to rebel against him, was the same thing as to 
rebel against the Lord himself. They were also a 
"clannish" people, and paid the utmost deference to 
their "lairds" or petty chieftains, and in fact, to all 
who were their superiors, or who had authority over 
them, whether in a civil, social, or religious capacity. 
Such continued to be the fact, to a great extent, long 
after they came to America ; and of this, the follow- 
ing incident may be taken as an illustration. Soon 
after my entrance on public life, when returning 
from Fayetteville, in company with the Rev. Murdoch 
• McMillan, a very respectable minister of the gospel 
in the Presbyterian church, and a most excellent man, 
we called about 10 o'clock, A. M., at the gate of a 
little cabin which stood near the road, to get a drink 
of water. While we were waiting for it, quite a vene- 
rable, fine looking old man, came out to the gate, 
and standing there bareheaded in the sun, conversed 



40 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

very freely and with much good sense, until we bid 
him good-bye and pursued our journey. As we rode 
away, Mr. McMillan stated that after the old gentle- 
man came to this country, some twenty years before, 
whenever he went to his house or met him in the 
road, he would pull off his hat and stand with it 
under his arm, as humbly and submissively as any 
African servant in the land, until their interview w^as 
ended and each took his own course. Mr. McMillan 
said he did his best to break him of the habit, but it 
was years before he could succeed. Even then, it 
seems, the old man had left his hat in the house, to 
avoid a reproof from his pastor ; and yet, his long 
cherished feelings of reverence for his superiors was 
so strong, that he must come into his presence bare- 
headed. This old man, though with a head perfectly 
white, and bending under the weight of four-score 
years, w^as a fair specimen of the native Highlanders, 
I mean, of the mass, and of all perhaps, who had no 
title, and no claim to superiority of rank. They 
retained much of the same character in America, 
while the country remained subject to Great Britain, 
and this fact should be borne in mind. 

People of such a character and with such habits 
and feelings, as might be supposed, felt little or no 
interest in the disputes between the mother country 
and her colonies about charters and the right of tax- 
ation. When the people of Boston threw the tea 
overboard and they got the news, they talked about 
it with as much indifference, probably, as they would 
have talked about the mountains in the moon or the 



THE SCOTCH HIGHLANDERS. 47 

bears of the Arctic regions. The tax on tea gave 
them no uneasiness, for thej never used it, and knew 
nothing about it. Their comforts would not have 
been increased if there had been no tax on the tea, 
nor would they be diminished if it were taxed a hun- 
dred per ce7it., and as for the principle involved, that 
was a matter between the government and those who 
must have the luxury of drinking tea. The battle 
of Lexington excited some interest, and was discussed 
with freedom by all classes, but with great modera- 
tion. After the battle of Bunker's Hill, the subject 
began to be viewed in a more serious light ; but still 
it was the prevailing opinion that the dispute would 
be settled in the Northern States, and that our fate 
would depend upon theirs. The country was so 
thinly settled and apparently so destitute of all the 
means and requisites of warfare, that very few thought 
of engaging in the contest, and some predicted that 
a gun would never be fired south of the Koanoke 
river. 

There were some, however, on the Cape Fear, 
intelligent, public spirited and patriotic men, who 
were determined to resist the encroachments of the 
crown, and who were very active in impressing upon 
the people of their respective neighborhoods the duty 
and importance of maintaining their rights. Among 
these the most energetic and efficient were Colonels 
Moore, Ashe, Lillington, Rowan and Robeson ; and 
they succeeded in infusing their own spirit into 
many others ; but there was no asperity or bitterness 
of feeling, and the different political parties lived 



48 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

together on the most friendly terms. For some time 
after the contest became bloody in the North, and 
after Congress had an army at Boston, there was no 
disturbance here, and no serious apprehensions were 
felt by the mass of the people. Even in November 
and December, 1775, the two parties, in Cross Creek, 
now Fayetteville, mustered on opposite sides of the 
village, then returned into town and lived in great 
harmony ; but this state of things could not continue. 
The controversy was rapidly approaching a crisis ; 
and the principles involved were so important in 
themselves and had such an intense bearing on all 
their temporal and immortal interests, on their sense 
of moral obligation, on their present comfort and on 
the welfare of unborn generations, that every one 
who had the least reflection could hardly avoid taking 
his stand on one side or the other. Governor Mar- 
tin, from the time he took refuge on board the Brit- 
ish ship Cruiser, had been exerting all his influence, 
in every direction, to increase the number of his ad- 
herents ; and plying their consciences, their sense of 
honor, and their regard to present interest, with 
every motive which his ingenuity and the means in 
his power could furnish, for the purpose of securing 
their cordial and active services. From Governor 
Swain's lecture, before noticed, it appears that all 
the British invasions of North Carolina were of Gov. 
Martin's devising, and that they were prosecuted 
under his supervision, or at least in accordance with 
his wishes. It also appears that a well concerted 
scheme had been laid and was in process of accom- 



THE SCOTCH HIGHLANDERS. 49 

plishment, for crushing the rebellion at once and 
restoring his Honor to the secure and peaceful occu- 
pation of his palace. The loyalists, including Regu- 
lators and Highlanders, were to be embodied, armed 
and marshalled for battle. An insurrection was to 
be excited among the slaves, by the offer of freedom, 
and they were to be employed as the robbers and 
cut-throats of their masters ; the savages of the west 
were to be engaged in co-operation with the rest ; 
and the whole sustained by a British force, on land 
and water, adequate to the occasion. Lord Dun- 
more, Governor of Virginia, who, it seems, was con- 
cerned in this savage conspiracy against humanity 
and the rights of mankind, had offered freedom to 
the slaves, and gave them every encouragement to 
join his standard. Col. Stewart, who was a Scotch- 
man by birth, was Indian agent for the British 
government, and was exerting all the vast influence 
which he had acquired over those savage tribes to 
prepare them for an attack on our frontier settle- 
ments. The time, as we infer from known facts and 
circumstances, had been agreed on, and the prepara- 
tions were fast maturing for a combined attack. 
Sir Henry Clinton sailed from the Chesapeake, with 
four or five ships and four companies of troops, with 
the intention of being in the Cape Fear at or before 
the appointed time. Sir Peter Parker sailed from 
Ireland with ten or twelve ships and several regi- 
ments of soldiers, allowing himself ample time to 
share in the honors of victory. 

5 



50 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 



EFFORTS OF GOV. MARTIN AND OTHERS TO ENGAGE AS 
MANY AS rOSSIBLE IN THE SERVICE OF THE KING. 

But we must go bact two or three months, and 
notice the influence exerted and the measures em- 
ployed for enlisting Highlanders in the service of the 
king. From what has been said, we might suppose 
that, which ever side their leaders took in the pend- 
ing controversy, the mass of the people vvould go 
with them; and considering their religious principles, 
their lono; cherished habits, and their extreme i^-no- 
ranee in regard to the true merits of the case, they 
could hardly do otherwise. These chieftains or 
leaders were all, unfortunately, on the wrong side, 
for they not only felt bound by the oath of allegiance 
which they had taken, but, as they still possessed 
landed estates in Scotland, they had an interest in 
maintaining the established government. 

Everywhere, and at all times, those who leave their 
native land and become emigrants to a far distant 
clime, are influenced by different motives, — some are 
impelled by necessity ; some merely follow a dissatis- 
fied or roving disposition ; others are led by cupidity 
or a desire of gain — and so it was with the. Scotch. 
Some, though not forced away by absolute poverty or 
by " broken down fortunes," came to America be- 
cause they were not able to live there in a style equal 
to their rank. Of this class were the celebrated 



EFFORTS OF GOV. MARTIN. 51 

Flora McDonald and her husband, Alan McDonald, 
of Kingsboro', commonly called Kingsboro' McDo- 
nald, and a number of others. Some, leaving their 
landed estates in Scotland, with tenants on them, had 
come over to this country, as to an El Dorado, ex- 
pecting to make a great fortune in a little time, and 
then be able to do as they pleased ; but, like a great 
many others who migrate to new countries for the 
same purpose, they soon found that they were mis- 
taken. Their lands were to clear, and they were 
unacquainted with the mode of culture adapted to the 
soil. Their hired servants, the only ones they had, 
if not paid punctually, would leave as soon as their 
time was out, and in fact, would leave when they took 
the notion, pay or no pay. They were far from mar- 
ket ; and, although they had no produce to spare, 
they found great difficulty in obtaining the luxuries 
to which they had been accustomed in their own land. 
Not having been long in the country, and finding that 
they were diminishing instead of increasing their es- 
tates, they became greatly dissatisfied, and laid the 
whole blame on the opposition which the people were 
making to the British government. Of course, they 
were more zealous than ever in support of that go- 
vernment, and exerted themselves to the utmost. 

After the disastrous battle of Culloden, many who 
were men of rank and property, or of respectable 
character and standing in society, were induced to 
enter the British army; and, having served with repu- 
tation until the peace of 1763, were now on half pay. 
According to Mr. McBride's papers, several of the 



52 REVOLUTIUNAIIY IiNCiPENTS. 

officers came into that region in the summer and fall 
of 1775, some, on visits to their relations; some to 
see the country ; and some, having purchased land, 
had become settlers. All these classes, who were 
regarded by the people as their superiors and their 
guides, were warm in support of the reigning sove- 
reign, and exerted their whole influence in maintain- 
ing his authority. Probably, Gov. Martin made a 
visit to that region and these men often visited him, 
on board the ship Cruiser : so that an almost con- 
tinual intercourse w^as kept up through the summer 
and fall ; and thus measures were concerted for fu- 
ture operation. From every visit they returned with 
fresh zeal, and with additional incentives. Among 
the foremost was Col. Cotton, who was county sur- 
veyor in Anson, and lived in that part of the county 
now called Montgomery, a man of more intelligence 
than any other in that region, and very influential 
among both the Scotch and Regulators, visited Go- 
vernor Martin in the latter part of the summer, and 
as he returned, made it his business to call at every 
Scotch settlement of importance, where he did every 
thing he could to influence the people to arm for the 
king whenever he might call for their services. Be- 
ing a man, not only of property and intelligence, but 
of fine address and popular manners, he had every 
advantage ; and being ably seconded by others, par- 
ticularly by Capt. Walter Cunningham, who was also 
well known and much esteemed, his success was per- 
haps equal to his wishes. 

A noble effort was made to counteract this unhappy 



EFFORTS OF GOV. MARTIN. 53 

influence, which would probably have been successful 
if it had been continued and properly sustained ; but 
that could not be done. Soon after Col. Cotton re- 
turned from his visit to Gov. Martin, Col. Mcintosh, 
from the neighborhood of the Long Bluff, now Society 
Hill, in South Carolina, a native of Scotland, but now 
a most decided advocate for American Independence, 
came on a visit to his countrymen in North Carolina, 
and used every argument in his power for the pur- 
pose of inducing them to remain neutral in the com- 
mencing contest, as the most safe and the most con- 
sistent course for them to take. 

As the agents of Governor Martin, Col. Cotton, 
and many others, with his proclamation in their 
hands, and making it the basis of their arguments, 
had appealed to their professions of loyalty, and to 
their love for their native country, which they still 
called their home. 

In their appeals to the people, these men laid much 
stress on the fact, that every attempt hitherto made 
to resist the king had proved abortive, and predicted 
from this fact, that the present attempt, like all the 
others, would be an utter failure, and that all who 
now resisted the power of the king, would be dealt 
with, as their ancestors had been after the battle of 
Culloden, reminding them, at the same time, of the 
oath of allegiance which all their leaders and most 
of them, had taken before they left their native land, 
of the great things which the king had done for Scot- 
land, and for them, and of their corresponding obli- 
gations to loyalty and obedience, yet intimating that 

5* 



54 REVOLUTlOiNARY INCIDENTS. 

the king was jealous of them, or had not entire con- 
fidence in them, and that now was the time to redeem 
their character, and prove themselves true to their 
sovereign, loyal to their country, and faithful to the 
oaths which they had taken. 

Mcintosh met these arguments and appeals, with 
others, more just and equally forcible. He told them 
that, as he well knew, they had no attachment to the 
reigning family of Hanover, and no inducement to 
risk anything in maintaining their authority ; that 
they had already suffered severely, on several occa- 
sions, by the arbitrary and unjust measures of the 
present government, and that if they continued under 
this government, they could expect no better treat- 
ment in time to come. Knowing, however, that their 
minds were not yet prepared for a full and open 
renunciation of their allegiance to the British Crown, 
and that it was not best to press this matter to an 
issue at once, he told them that, as they had so lately 
taken the oath of allegiance to King George, nothing 
more could be reasonably required of them than to 
remain quiet, and join neither party ; and that 
although he had his residence in South Carolina, he 
would do all in his power, and had no doubt that he 
would succeed in his efforts, to procure their safety 
and peace so long as they remained quietly at home, 
and did nothing to aid the British. 

To this proposal, so fair and so reasonable, made 
too, on the back of arguments and appeals so forcible, 
all, except the few military characters among them, 
and perhaps, a few hot-headed young men, would 



EFFORTS OF GOV. iMARTIN. 55 

have gladlj assented ; but as these military charac- 
ters, and other men of property and influence among 
them, who were so zealous in support of the royal 
government, and wdio were so frequently visiting Gov- 
ernor Martin, at his floating residence, it so happened 
that directly after the departure of Colonel Mcintosh, 
several of them returned, well primed and ready for 
action, among whom were Allan McDonald, Donald 
McDonald, and Donald McLeod. Their ostensible 
reason for coming into North Carolina, at that time, 
was to visit their friends ; but there is reason to 
believe, notwithstanding their oath to the contrary, 
that their visit was not solely nor chiefly, for "auld 
acquaintance sake." A correspondent of Mr. Mc- 
Bride's, only a part of whose communications has 
probably come into my hands, as his name is not 
annexed, when speaking of Donald McDonald, after- 
wards brigadier-general, and Donald McLeod, after- 
wards first colonel in the Tory army, says that " they 
belonged to the British army;" and from the inci- 
dental manner in which he makes the statement, he 
seems to have supposed that everybody, or at least, 
that Mr. McBride, was aware of the fact. The writer 
does not appear to have had the advantages of a 
liberal or classical education, but to have been a man 
of good natural sense, and to have been pretty well 
''posted up" on this whole business. On his autho- 
rity, I had made such a statement in my manuscript, 
and then, from this fact, as well as from some other 
circumstances, drew the conclusion that these men 
must have been sent out here by the British authori- 



56 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

ties, for the express purpose of exerting an influence 
on their countrymen. The same writer says, and on 
liis authority I had stated, that McDonald and Mc- 
Leod, had both been in the battle of Bunker's Hill, 
where McLeod was wounded ; and that on their 
arrival, or very soon after, they began to rouse up 
their friends for the contest. The above opinion 
respecting the design of McDonald and McLeod, in 
coming to North Carolina, was made sometime before 
the lectures of Dr. Hawk, Governor Swain, and 
Governor Graham, or any one of them had been 
delivered ; and I am glad to find that the facts and 
testimonies adduced in Governor Swain's lecture, 
tend strongly to confirm the statement. 

As a matter of course. Governor Martin kept the 
British ministry well acquainted with the state of things 
in the Province which he had been sent to govern, 
and it seems that the measures which he proposed 
were not only approved, but that he received prompt 
and ample assurance of whatever assistance might 
be necessary for the re-establishment of his authority. 
In a letter dated White Hall, May 3d, 1775, which 
was in answer to two from Martin, one dated January 
26th, and the other March 10th, Lord Dartmouth 
a Ivises him to send out suitable agents for the pur- 
purpose of organizing associations in all the counties 
which were favorable to his majesty's government, 
" to hold out to gentlemen in those counties the pros- 
pect of commissions suitable to their rank and 
station," and then lets him know that, upon his appli- 
cation, General Gage, who had command of the 



EFFOilTS OF GOV. MARTIN. 57 

Bi'itlsh forces at Boston, would be directed " to send 
some able and discreet officer to lead the people forth 
against any rebellious attempts to disturb the public 
peace." We suppose that such an appplication was 
made, and that Donald McDonald, with Donald 
McLeod as an assistant, had been sent out in the 
character and for the purpose above specified. 

They passed through Newberne on their way to 
the scene of their future operations, and being entire 
strangers there, at a time when the utmost vigilance 
and precaution were necessary, they were immediately 
suspected and brought before the civil authority. In 
the Gentleman's Magazine, for June, 1776, which 
is here quoted from Governor Swain's Lecture, we 
are told that two Scotch officers, Messrs. McDonald 
and McLeod, passed through Newberne. They were 
suspected of some sinister design and questioned by 
the provincials concerning their business. They 
pretended they were officers who were wounded at 
Bunker's Hill, and had left the army with a design to 
settle among their friends." The following extract, 
from a Virginia paper, was obtained by Mr. Charles 
Philips, when in the North last fall, and kindly 
handed to me by Governor Swain: 

^'WiLLiAMSBURGH, Ya., March 23d, 1776. 
*' General McDonald and Brigadier General 
McLeod, (the former of whom was killed and the 
latter taken prisoner,) set out at the head of this 
banditti with the avowed intention of carrying Gov- 
ernor Martin to the interior of the Province. These 



58 Rf:VOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

two officers passed through Newberne, a few months 
af^o, where they took a solemn oath before the com- 
mittee of that town that their business in that 
province was only to see their friends and relatives." 
From the conduct of these men on their arrival in 
the Scotch settlements, and from all the developments 
which were soon after made, as well as from the 
testimonies cited above, we can hardly avoid the con- 
clusion that they were sent out here by the British 
authorities to direct the contemplated movements in 
favor of the King; and that, in taking such an oath, 
they must have made "a mental reservation," or 
kept back the most important part of the truth which 
they were expected to tell. At wdiat precise time 
they came into that region is not known, but it was 
in the fall of 1775, not more than a month or two, 
as w^e infer, before their commissions were given, and 
almost immediately on their arrival, it seems, they 
engaged in the duties of their mission. On the 10th 
day of January, 1776, the same day on which Gov. 
Martin issued his proclamation denouncing the rebel- 
lion in the severest terms, and calling upon all the 
friends of government to rally in its support, he issued 
a commission to Allan McDonald, Donald McDonnld, 
Alexander McLeod, Donald McLeod, Alexander 
McLean, Allan Stewart, YV'illiam Campbell, Alexan- 
der McDonald and Neill McArthur, Esqs., of the 
counties of Cumberland and Anson ; John Pyle, 
Esq., of the county of Chatham ; William Fields, 
James Hunter, Robert Fields, Jeremiah Fields and 
Saymorc Yorkc, Esqrs., of the county of Guilford ; 



EFFORTS OF GOV. MARTIN. 59 

Michael Holt and James Monroe, Esqrs., of tlie 
county of Orange ; Paul Barringer, of the county of 
Mecklenburg ; William Spurgian, William Bryan, 
Samuel Bryan and Mathias Sappinfield, Esqrs., of 
the county of Rowan ; Gideon Wright and James 
Glynn, Esqrs., of the county of Surrey ; and Phile- 
mon Hawkins, Senior, and Philemon Hawkins, Junior, 
Esqrs., of the county of Bute, authorising them to 
erect the King's standard, and to raise, levy, muster, 
and array in arms all his majesty's loj^al and faithful 
subjects within their respective counties." Some of 
these were Scotch, and some of them had been Regu- 
lators. Governor Swain, in a foot note to his 
Lecture, from which we have copied the above list, 
tells us that in regard to three of the men named in 
the commission, viz : Paul Barringer, Philemon 
Hawkins, Senior, amd Philemon Hawkins, Junior, 
Governor Martin must have been mistaken in their 
character, or gave them the appointment for the pur- 
pose of bringing them into suspicion and injuring 
their influence in the country, for, it is shown in 
Wheeler's History, that they were all three substan- 
tial Whio^s durino; the war, and all suffered much in 
the cause of freedom and independence. 

If Governor Martin, by placing Allan McDonald's 
name first in the commission, intended that he should 
be commanding officer, he afterwards changed his 
mind, and we can readily conceive some plausible 
reasons why he should do both. High-minded, chiv- 
alrous in his bearings, and ardent in his devotions to 
the cause of loyalty, with some claims to civil or 



60 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

social rank, and some experience in military life, 
Allan McDonald would seem, at first blush, to have 
been the very man to marshal his majesty's loyal 
subjects and lead them on to battle, but the governor 
may have ascertained some trait of character belong- 
ing to him which would unfit him for a trust so 
important and responsible, or, as we think more 
probable, if Donald McDonald was sent out here by 
General Gage, as we suppose, and in obedience to 
orders from England, he would hardly submit to be 
made subordinate to another ; and thus his Excellency 
may have found himself under a necessity of chang- 
ing his original design. "McDonald and McLeod 
were veteran soldiers, and had fought with reputation 
in the battle of Culloden," more than thirty years 
before ; and the former had risen to the rank of 
Colonel of Marines before the peace of 1763. Sup- 
posing them to have been twenty years of age, when 
they fought at Culloden, they were now turned of 
fifty; and Allan McDonald must have been near the 
same age, or perhaps a little older. Donald Mc- 
Donald entered the British army when very young, 
but he had attained the rank of lieutenant in the 
42d Regiment at the battle of Culloden. In one of 
McBride's papers we have the following statement : 
" General McDonald and Colonel McLeod came from 
Boston to North Carolina. They were both officers 
in the British army. McLeod was Captain in one of 
the Old Regiments, and was wounded at the battle of 
Bunker's Hill. They both had a number of relations 
in these parts.'* During a service of tliirty or thirty- 



EFFORTS OF GOVERNOR MARTIN. 61 

five years, the British authorities must have had 
ample opportunity of testing their fidelity and of 
ascertaining their competency for any place of trust 
which they might choose to assign them ; nor did 
they, on this occasion, act in a way to disappoint the 
expectations of those whom they served. As McDon- 
ald had risen to the rank of Colonel of Marines at 
the peace of 1763, while McLeod was only a Captain 
when they came into this state, the former must have 
commended himself to his superiors by greater ability 
and efficiency in the service of his country than the 
latter ; and while McDonald was appointed Brigadier 
General, McLeod was raised to the rank of Colonel, 
by his Excellency Governor Martin, probably on the 
recommendation of General Gage, or of those who 
were still higher in authority. 

There were, at this time, several others in the 
Scotch region, McBride says, who had been officers 
in the British army, and were now on half pay, 
among whom was Hector McNeill, who was an En- 
sign, at the peace of 1763. He was now appointed 
Colonel, and was afterwards killed in the battle on 
Cane creek. It would be a matter of some interest 
to linow how many of the Scotch officers in the Tory 
army had been officers in the British service ; and, 
being now on half pay, were called into service, pro 
re nata, and promoted to higher rank, either as a 
reward for past services, or as a stimulus to future 
efforts ; but this is a curiosity which is not likely to 
be gratified. 

Wlien Governor Martin issued the commission, it 
6 



62 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

is highly probable that some of those named in it were 
there at the time on a visit ; or, if not, there were, 
no doubt, runners enough at hand who were ready, 
for the sake of the honor of being footpads to his 
excellency, or for a trifling compensation, to carry 
them away at once, and wherever desired. At all 
events, it is certain that they were all received, in a 
very short time, by those for whom they'were intend- 
ed ; for they seem to have had their men, not only 
collected, but organized, and their camps formed very 
early in February. " On the 10th of February, John 
Reynolds, of the County of Rowan, made oath," as 
Governor Swain states in his Lecture, " that he had 
heard these papers," viz., the proclamation and the 
commissions, " read in the cam'p of William Fields ; 
and that he heard from the officers and men declared, 
free plunder wherever they went." 

RENDEZVOUS AND ORGANIZATION OF THE TORY ARMY. 

About the middle of February, though the precise 
day is not known, they began to assemble at a place 
known by the name of Cross Hill, not more than a 
mile and a half from the present town of Carthage, 
and on which Mrs. Glasscock lived, either then or 
some time since. While Cross creek, now Fayettes- 
ville, was to be the place of general meeting. Cross 
Hill seems to have been agreed upon as the place of 
rendezvous for the Scotch and Regulators of Moore 
and the counties lying west and north-west. At least, 
the Regulators, so far as I have learned^ had no other 



ORGANIZATION OF THE TORY ARMY. G3 

place of rendezvous ; nor does it appear that any of 
them met there except those from Rowan and from 
the region of the Yadkin river. 

My impression is that the number of Regulators 
who actually joined the Tory army and were present 
at the battle, has been overrated ; but it is impossible, 
perhaps, to make even an approximation to a precise 
estimate. Col. William Fields, who had probably as 
many men under his command as any one of them, 
did not join the army at all. He was on his way, 
and expected to join them at Cross creek ; but, as 
they marched a few days sooner than the time ap- 
pointed, before he arrived there he heard of the de- 
feat at Moore's creek, and returned towards home. 
Such is the account which the writer received from 
his friends and neighbors, some fifteen or twenty 
years ago ; and it is considered as altogether reliable. 

There were four brothers, by the name of Field, 
who were loyalists, but John, the youngest, had a 
crippled hand which disqualified him for military ser- 
vice, and he stayed at home, but he used his influence 
in favor of the king. The other three took a very 
active part, and were very enterprising and efiicient 
during the war. In one of McBride's papers, which 
appears to have been a communication, or part of one, 
the writer says that, as he had understood, a small 
party of Regulators, from up the country, joined them 
at Cross Hill ; but he did not know how many there 
were, nor who were their officers. Two other compa- 
nies, or small bodies of men, one under Col. Pyle, 
from Chatham, and another under Eli Branson, 



64 REVOLUTIONARY INCJ DENTS. 

from the north side of Randolph, joined them at 
Cross creek. All the Regulators were to have been, 
and probably were, under the command of Colonel 
Donald McLeod, who was killed in the battle ; and 
as he went over the bridge, it seems, without any of 
his own men, it is probable that none of the Regula- 
tors lost their lives on that occasion. 

It appears that General McDonald met with them 
at Cross Hill, where, as a matter of course, the king's 
standard was erected and Governor Martin's procla- 
mation was read, along with the military commissions 
which had been given. lie was received as their 
General, or Commander-in-chief; and an organiza- 
tion was made in due form, so far as was practicable 
at the time ; but so much of a martial spirit was 
prevalent in the country that there were more clarims 
or applications for office than could be met. The 
Scotch were formerly, in their own land, a warlike 
people, and had been much engaged, either as a whole 
people, with foreign enemies, or, as clans, in conflicts 
with each other. No land, of the same territorial 
limits, and the same amount of population, abounds 
more in historical, traditionary and legendary ac- 
counts of hard fought battles, personal rencounters, 
and perilous adventures, which have been so well 
described by Ossian and other native bards. The 
sound of the pibrock would, at any time, rouse up 
the martial spirit in the breasts of all ages and of all 
classes, from the youth of sixteen, to the old man of 
sixty, and summon them round the standard of their 
chieftain, ready to risk their lives in his service, and 



ORGANIZATION OF THE TORY ARMY. 65 

eager to signalize themselves by their heroic achieve- 
ments on the field of battle. 

Most of those, in this country, who, at the time of 
which we are writing, had attained the age of fifty, 
had imbibed the martial spirit with their mothers' 
milk, and had brought it with them from their native 
land, where it had been cherished from childhood by 
all their associations and by all their habits of life. 
Here the young were entertained by the old with 
many a martial song of the " Olden time," and by 
many a thrilling account of personal adventures, full 
of peril and of difficulty, in which they had once been 
engaged, or of the memorable day at CuUoden, when 
they fought for Scotland's "rightful sovereign;" and 
thus the admiration of heroic deeds and the desire for 
heroic achievements was perpetuated from father to 
son. The fathers were roused by the very first sig- 
nals of war, and drawn at once from the endearments 
of home to the " tented field," as the old war-horse 
on the common is made to forget his pasture and go 
through the martial exercises with all the fire of his 
youth, by hearing the notes of the bugle. The sons, 
thus animated and prepared for the contest, were 
eager to rival or to imitate the chivalrous exploits of 
their fathers ; and thus, in addition to those who had 
been officers in the British service, or who now held 
commissions from his Excellency, there was many an 
aspirant for office among those who had been born in 
America, and who were probably quite as ambitious 
to gather laurels on the field of Mars, as to show their 
fidelity to the house of Hanover. In this state of 

6* 



66 REVOLUTIONARY JNCIDENTS. 

tilings, every one Avho was a militia officer of any 
grade, or who thought he had any talents for com- 
mand, or who looked more at the pay, and the honor, 
and the regimentals of an officer than anything else, 
was solicitous to get as many men as possible who 
would agree to serve under him, without much regard 
to their convenience or their fitness, and who would 
entitle him to a commission, by their number, if by 
nothing more. In order to accomplish their own 
ends, some, probably, got to be officers of low grade, 
who could not relish powder and lead as well as they 
had supposed, and drew some into the army who 
ought to have been left at home, even if the cause had 
been good. As evidence of this, we give here Hugh 
McDonalds's account of his own case, which may be 
regarded, we presume, as a specimen of several 
others ; and, although he was then a mere child, being 
only in his fourteenth year, we prefer to give it, as 
nearly as possible, in his own language. 

After describing the conduct of McDonald and 
McLeod, in persuading the Scotch " to step forward 
and draw their broad swords, as their forefathers 
had often done, in defence of their king, who would 
give them double wages and double honors," he says, 
" These people readily left their peaceful homes and 
enlisted under the above-named gentlemen. Colonel 
Donald McLeod and Major Donald McDonald, who 
shortly after got the title of General. These gen- 
tlemen, notwithstanding their influence among the 
ignorant Scotch, were instigated by selfish and specu- 
lating motives; and not only they, but their subaltern 



ORGANIZATION OF THE TORY ARMY. 67 

officers also. I well recollect, though only entering 
on my fourteenth year, that John Martin, who called 
himself a Captain in this contemplated regiment, 
came to the house of my father, who then lived near 
the place now known by the name of Carthage, in 
Moore county; and, after causing him to enlist, told 
him that he must take me along with him. My 
father said that I would be of no service in the army 
as a soldier, and as his wife was a sickly woman, and 
the children all weakly, he would be useful at home 
to the family. 'Never mind your family,' was his 
reply, ' he tvill count one to procure me a commission^ 
and he will draw you a soldier's pay.' My father 
told him that would be unjust. ' If you do not take 
him with you, I will see you hanged when we see the 
king,' was his reply to that; and my father was 
afraid of his threats, knowing that when offended he 
was not too strict in points of honor. Five days after 
this they embodied and marched to Cross creek, 
where they were joined by many others, to the 
number of three or four thousand. There were 
many baggage and magazine wagons, one of which 
they tried to make me drive, but I was not able to go 
through with it." In his estimate of the number, he 
may have been mistaken ; for a boy of his age could 
not be expected to have a very correct knowledge of 
such matters, and not having been accustomed to see 
such large collections of people, a few hundred, armed 
and parading in every direction, would look like a 
great multitude ; or there may have been three thou- 
sand assembled at Cross creek, only fifteen or sixteen 



G8 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

hundred of whom, were properly armed and regarded 
as constituting the army, while the rest, or many of 
them intended to march along with them to Wilming- 
ton, and not anticipating any serious opposition on 
the route, for the purpose of tendering their services 
to his excellency and obtaining a supply of arms, 
which would enable them to give full proof of their 
loyalty, and aid him in carrying out his plan for sub- 
duing the rebels and regaining the possession of his 
palace. 

Two of Mr. McBride's correspondents, after stating 
that about five hundred men met at Cross Hill, give 
the names of the officers who met there with them 
and were acknowledged as officers in the army. In 
these lists there is a perfect agreement, except per- 
haps that one of them has a captain more than the 
other, and assigns a different place of residence to 
one or two of them. This is a matter of no great 
importance ; but some of our readers may be grati- 
fied to see the names. Donald McDonald was 
General, or Commander-in-chief; Donald McLeod 
and Alexander McLeod, Glendeln, were Colonels ; 
Alan McDonald, Samuel McDonald, James Muse, 
and Alexander McLeod, of Cumberland County, and 
brother of Col. Donald McLeod, were Majors. 

Captains, from Anson, chiefly from the part of it 
which is now, or was a few years ago, Montgomery 
County, viz., Alexander McLeod, John McDonald, 
Alexander McRae, Murdock McCaskill, Samuel 
Williams and James McDonald. Walter Cunning- 
ham followed after, but did not overtake them 



ORGANIZATION OF THE TORY ARMY. 69 

before the battle. Captains from Moore County, John 
McLeod, Alexander Morrison, Angus McDonald, 
and John McKenzie ; but the writer adds, that 
several of these had no command, and that Alex- 
ander McDonald, Alexander McKav, Morris Houlin, 
Aaron Vardj and John Leggett, all of whom were 
from Cumberland, except Leggett, who was from 
Bladen, joined them at Cross creek. It seems that 
when leaving Cross Hill, they numbered about five 
hundred; but in these accounts, in McBride's papers, 
no mention is made of Regulators, either officers or 
men, except incidentally, that a small party of Regu- 
lators had joined them at that place. From this to 
the general rendezvous, they proceeded in military 
style, with baggage wagons, magazine wagons, and 
the usual camp equipage. 

On the way they were met by a deputation of two 
men from the Provincial Congress, who had been 
sent, McBride says, to confer with them and to 
assure them, on behalf of the new government, that 
if they would disperse and return to their homes, they 
should be permitted to live in peace and not be called 
on under any circumstances, to bear arms ; but this 
efi*ort at conciliation was a failure. Though imper- 
fectly organised, they had officers whom they acknow- 
ledged, and to whose authority they were subject. 
These officers would only hear the messengers them- 
selves and took good care to keep their followers ignor- 
ant of the proposals which were made. What would 
have been the result had their import been understood 
by the men generally, it is impossible to tell; but the 



70 REVOLUTIONARY IxNCIDENTS. 

fact shows to whom the blame of what followed 
chiefly belonged. 

At Cross creek they remained several days and 
were joined by a great many more. It is impossible 
at the present day to ascertain with any degree of 
certainty what number of men composed this ill-fated 
army ; for the statements of different authors, even 
those who might be supposed to have had the most 
authentic information are so variant, and we do not 
know which of them is most reliable. One of Mr. 
McBride's correspondents says, in a general w^ay, 
that there were fifteen or sixteen hundred, and 
another says that there were not over fifteen hun- 
dred, and that one-third of these had no guns ; but 
in this he must have been mistaken, as fifteen hun- 
dred good rifles and three hundred and fifty guns, 
muskets, I presume, with shot-bags, were taken by 
the Whigs after the defeat. If these rifles and mus- 
kets, or other guns, all belonged to the army, there 
must have been eighteen hundred and fifty men ; and 
this agrees very nearly with another account. Sted- 
man, a British author, who was commissary to the 
army of Lord Cornwallis, and accompanied him in 
all his campaigns, puts down the number at eigh- 
teen hundred. Having arrived in this state a few 
weeks after the battle, he must have had the most 
reliable testimony ; and then having written and pub- 
lished his history in England a few years after the 
close of the war, he must have had access to all the 
ofiicial communications which had been made to the 
British government. Edmund Burke, — the talented 



ORGANIZATION OF THE TORY ARMY. 71 

and eloquent Burke, — the friend of truth and of Ame- 
rican rights, who, from the position which he occu- 
pied in the British Parliament, and from the deep 
interest which he took in the war, must have had 
every advantage for ascertaining the facts in the case 
which a man could have on that side of the Atlantic, 
states the number to have been from fifteen hundred 
to three thousand, and says that this latter number 
was admitted by the Commanding General after the 
defeat. Our boy, Hugh McDonald, says there were 
three or four thousand ; but he must have stated what 
were his boyish impressions at the time, or he may 
have included in his estimate all the men who were 
present, though half of them were not equipped nor 
regarded as properly belonging to the army ; and 
the supposition that such was the fact is the only 
one which bids fair to reconcile the discordant state- 
ments of the best informed writers in relation to this 
matter. 

While at Cross creek, every possible effort was 
made by the experienced officers and others who 
were zealous in his Majesty's service, to inspire them 
with a military spirit and excite them to make achieve- 
ments, if occasion offered, which would recommend 
the whole community to the royal favor, and give 
them the vantage ground in time to come. Among 
others, it seems the far-famed Flora McDonald, who, 
from her historic fame and her personal accomplish- 
ments, was a host in herself, was there and did all 
she could to infuse into the men a portion of her own 
loyal and heroic spirit. She had been exerting her 



72 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

influence all along to get them enlisted in the cause, 
and she was not one to become weary of any enter- 
prise in which she had once fairly embarked. Her 
husband, Allan McDonald, of Kingsboro', who was 
much respected by his countrymen for his intelligence 
and his high-toned feelings of probity and honor, 
held the rank of Major; her only son, John McDon- 
ald, was a Captain ; and Alexander McLeod who, I 
have been told, was her son-in-law, was a Colonel. 
A woman who could make such sacrifices and do it 
with so much cheerfulness, must have had a heroic 
spirit and a loyal heart. By thus cheerfully and 
heroically giving up all her dearest friends, she en- 
forced the eloquence of her tongue by the influence 
of such a powerful example ; and in every way 
showed as much fidelity and zeal, as much of a 
devoted and self sacrificing spirit for the interests of 
King George, as she had done for the unfortunate 
Pretender more than thirty years before in her own 
country. 

But a difficulty occurred here which had well nigh 
frustrated all their eff'orts at once, and may have had 
some influence in producing the catastrophe which 
occurred a few days after. Stedman, a British 
author, already noticed, attributes the defeat at 
Moore's Creek, in part to " great division in the 
councils of the loyalists," and that something of this 
kind existed, we learn from other sources, though it 
is impossible now to ascertain the precise nature and 
extent of the discrepencies which prevailed. From 
McBride's memoranda^ it appears that there were 



ORGANIZATION OF ~THE TORY ARMY. 73 

conflicting claims and variant opinions almost from 
the commencement of the enterprise to the final dis- 
comfiture ; for while thej remained at Cross creek 
thej found it no easy matter to organize and arrange 
the companies, regiments and precedence of rank so 
as to give general satisfaction and secure a cordial 
and harmonious co-operation. 

All who had been militia oflScers expected to hold 
the same rank in the army; but on this principle 
there were of course, more officers than could possibly 
have their compliment of men. The officers and 
others who had lately come into the country, were 
called ''newcomers," and sometimes, "new Scotch;" 
and were now viewed with jealousy by the others. 
At least, I infer this much from the brief hints given 
in McBride's papers ; and it was by no means unna- 
tural. Those who had been born in the country or 
who had been long in it, and especially those w^io 
were aspirants for office, were not willing that the 
"new comers" should be promoted over their heads; 
and although they were going to risk their lives for 
monarchy, they would contend for what they con- 
ceived to be their rights. General McDonald, not- 
withstanding his devotion to the interests of his mas- 
ter and his long experience in military service, must 
have found use for all the wisdom he possessed and 
all the patience he could command, in tracing back 
their family standing and enquiring into their respec- 
tive qualifications; but after all, entire satisfaction 
could not be given ; for some were so highly offended 
at what they considered the injustice done them, or 



74 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

in despair of seeing discipline and efficiency in tlie 
army, that they left them and soon after joined the 
Whigs. 

It is doubtful, perhaps, whether all the authority 
with which General McDonald was clothed, and all 
the admonitions of the more considerate among them, 
with the renowned Flora in their van, could have 
allayed their ambitious aspirings and produced any 
thing like a due subordination, if they had not been 
enforced by the proximity of danger. Colonel, after- 
wards General Moore, with his regiment of regulars, 
some militia from Bladen, and five pieces of artillery, 
had taken post and was fortifying himself only seven 
miles to the south, where the main road to Wilmington 
crossed the Rockfish, and the only place where it 
could be crossed by an army without making a great 
circuit. Colonel Martin, with a large body of men, 
was approaching from the north, and Colonels Ashe, 
Caswell, Lillington and others, with considerable re- 
inforcements, were advancing from the east. A sense 
of danger, which was so imminent and increasing 
every hour, coming in aid of authority and of prudent 
counsels on the part of a few, probably brought the 
more factious to subordination, or at least to a tem- 
porary acquiescence, and made the more timid will- 
ing to forego for the present, their anticipated honors 
and rewards. Thus the army was at length and with 
much difficulty organized and ready to take up the 
line of march for the place of their destination. 

For the following paper, which we presume will be 
interesting to the reader, I am indebted to Governor 



ORGANIZATION OF THE TORY ARMY. 



75 



Swain. It purports to be an extract from the order 
book of General McDonald, and probably contains 
the names of the principal officers in the army when 
organized, and ready for marching orders. McBride, 
or his correspondent, lets us know that in the imper- 
fect organization at Cross-hill, many of the cap- 
tains had no men to command, and they were proba- 
bly left out in the more permanent arrangement 
which was afterwards made. We give the extract 
entire, and just as it is in the manuscript, without 
any kind of alteration. 

*•' Extract from Brig. McDonald's Orderly Booh. 



Captains under 

Captains under 

Col. Cotton, 

Parsons, 

Steed, 

Gardner, 

Jackson, 

Gross, 

Pope, 

Williams, 

Muse, 

Seal, 

Sappingfield, 

Grinor, 

Lowry, 

Al-ed, 

Regulators, 

Branson, 

Pylc, 

Yorke, 



Hugh McDonald. 

Alexander McClain, appointed 

Major of Brigade. 
Majors, McDonald, of Kingsboro, 
McCloud, of Glendeln, 
McCloud, of St. Kilda. 
Donald McCloud, to command 

the Regulators. 
Mr. Carter and Leggit's Company 

to join the Cumb'd Militia. 
Doct. Murdock McCloud, 

appointed Surgeon to the Army. 
Alex. Stewart, Quarter-master Gen'l. 
Lt. Duncan McNeil, Adjutant Gen'l. 
Lt. Kenneth McDonald, Aide-camp. 
Alex. Morris, Assistant Quarter-master Gen'l. 
John McKay, Captain of Pioneers. 
Alex. McClain, Commissary Gen'l. 



" All the guards particularly instructed to let no 



76 KEVOLUTlONAllY INCIDENTS. 

suspected person pass without being first brought to 
the commanding officer. 

" Captain Muse to command the Calvary and do 
what shall be most conducive to the service. 

" Cotton to give similar orders to the corps under 
his command. Every Captain to set down the Orders 

in a book. repeated 3 times. Adj't Fraser to 

receive and deliver Orders and show Orderly Book to 
officers. Pot for every fifty men be provided. Mr. 
Campbell provide Guard-room in Cross creek. Lib- 
erty pole, alarm post night or day. 

" 4 Divisions, viz : Cumberland Militia, Anson 
Highlanders, Regulators, and Cotton's — Cotton com- 
mand his own Corps." 

The above order was given, we presume, when they 
had got the army fully organized, and were on the 
eve of taking up the line of march for Wilmington. 
It is probable that they hastened their departure from 
Cross creek, because bodies of Whigs, under able 
and spirited leaders, were approaching them on every 
side, and their situation was daily and hourly becom- 
ing more perilous. According to General Moore's 
letter to Cornelius Harnett, President of the Provin- 
cial Council, dated Wilmington, March 2d, 1776, five 
days after the battle, we learn that the army com- 
menced their march, February 20th, on the south side 
of the river, and intended, McBride says, to continue 
on that side ; but after going about three miles, they 
halted and remained there through the day. , On the 
19th and 20th, the following correspondence took 
place between General McDonald and General Moore, 



CORRESPONDENCE. 77 

which we copy from the Appendix to Gov. Swain's 
Lecture, for the satisfaction of such of our readers as 
may not have access to the Lecture ; and we have no 
doubt they will be read with interest. They mani- 
fest ability on both sides, and are written in an ofiS- 
cer-like manner, with firmness, but with courtesy. 
McDonald was true to his master, and Moore was 
true to the cause of freedom and independence. 



CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN GENERAL McDONALD, THE 
SCOTCH COMiMANDER, AND GENERAL MOORE, THE 

american commander. 

General McDonald to General Moore. 
Head Quarters, Feh. Idth, 1776. 

Sir. — I herewith send the bearer, Donald Morri- 
son, by advice of the Commissioners appointed by 
his Excellency, Josiah Martin, and in behalf of the 
army now under my command, to propose terms to 
you as friends and countrymen. I must suppose you 
unacquainted with the Governor's Proclamation, com- 
manding all his Majesty's loyal subjects to repair to 
the King's royal standard, else I should have ima- 
gined you would, ere this, have joined the King's 
army, now engaged in his Majesty's service. I have 
therefore thought it proper to intimate to you, that, 
in case you do not, by twelve o'clock to-morrow, join 
the Royal standard, I must consider you as enemies, 
atid take the necessary steps for the support of legal 
authority. 

I beg leave to remind you of his Majesty's speech 



REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 



to his Parliament, wherein he offers to receive the 
misled with tenderness and mercj, from motives of 
humanity. I again beg of you to accept the preferred 
clemency. I make no doubt but you will shew the 
gentleman sent on this message every possible civility ; 
and you may depend, in return, that all your officers 
and men which may fall into our hands, shall be 
treated with an equal degree of respect. 

I have the honor to be, in behalf of the army, sir, 
your most obedient, humble servant. 

Donald McDonald. 

To the Commanding Officer at Rockfish. 

P. S. His Excellency's Proclamation is herewith 
inclosed. 

General Moore's Answer. 

Camio at Rockfish, Feb, 19tJi, 1776. 

Sir: — Yours of this day I have received; in 
answer to which, I must inform you, that the terms 
which you are pleased to say, in behalf of the army 
under your command, are offered to us as friends and 
countrymen, are such as neither my duty nor inclina- 
tion will permit me to accept, and which I must pre- 
sume you too much of an officer to expect of me. You 
were very right when you supposed me unacquainted 
with the Governor's Proclamation ; but as the terms 
therein proposed are such as I hold incompatible with 
the freedom of Americans, it can be no rule of con- 
duct for me. However, should I not hear further 
from you before twelve o'clock to-morrow, by which 
time I shall have an opportunity of consulting my 



CORRESrONDENCE. 79 

officers here, and perhaps, Colonel 3Iartin, who is in 
the neighborhood of Cross Creek, you may expect a 
more particular answer ; mean time, you may be 
assured that the feelings of humanity will induce me 
to shew that civility to such of you as may fall into 
our hands, as I am desirous should be observed to- 
wards those of ours who may be unfortunate enough 
to fall into yours. 

I am, sir, your most obedient, and very humble 
servant. James Moore. 

Brigadier General Moore to Brigadier General 
McDonald. 
Camp at Bockfish, Feb. 20th, 1776. 
Sir : — Agreeable to my promise of yesterday, I 
have consulted the officers under my command, 
respecting your letter, and am happy in finding them 
unanimous in opinion with me. We consider ourselves 
engaged in a cause the most glorious and honorable 
in the world, the defence of the liberties of mankind, 
in support of which, we are determined to hazard 
everything dear and valuable ; and in tenderness to 
the deluded people under your command, permit me, 
sir, through you, to inform them, before it is too late, 
of the dangerous and destructive precipice on which 
they stand, and to remind them of the ungrateful 
return they are about to make for their favorable 
reception in this country. If this is not sufficient to 
recall them to the duty which they owe to themselves 
and their posterity, inform them that they are en- 
gaged in a cause in which they cannot succeed, as 



80 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

not only the Avliole force of this country, but that of 
our neighboring provinces, is exerting, and now actu- 
ally in motion to suppress them, and which must end 
in their utter destruction. Desirous, however, of 
avoiding the effusion of human blood, I have thought 
proper to send you a copy of the test recommended 
by the Continental Congress, which, if they will yet 
subscribe and lay down their arms, by twelve o'clock 
to-morrow, we are willing to receive them as friends 
and countrymen. Should this offer be rejected, I 
shall consider them as enemies to the constitutional 
liberties of America, and treat them accordingly. 

I cannot conclude without reminding you, sir, of 
the oath which you and some of your oflScers took at 
New Berne, on your arrival in this country, which I 
imagine you will find difficult to reconcile to your 
present conduct. I have no doubt that the bearer. 
Captain James Walker, will be treated with proper 
civility and respect in your camp. 

I am, sir. 

Your most obedient and very humble servant, 

J. MOORE. 

Brigadier General McDonald to Brigadier 

General Moore. 

Head Quarters, February 20th, 1776. 

Sir: I received your favor by Captain James 

Walker, and observed you declared sentiments of 

revolt, hostility, and rebellion to the King, and to 

what I understand to be the Constitution of this 

country. If I am mistaken, future consequences 



CORRESPONDENCE. 81 

must determine ; but while I continue in my present 
sentiments, I shall consider myself embarked in a 
cause which must, in its consequences, extricate this 
country from anarchy and licentiousness. I cannot 
conceive that the Scots emigrants, to whom I imagine 
you allude, can be under greater obligations to this 
country than to that of England, under whose gra- 
cious and merciful government they alone could have 
been enabled to visit this western region ; and I trust, 
sir, it is in the womb of time to say, that they are 
not that deluded and ungrateful people which you 
would represent them to be. As a soldier in his 
Majesty's service, I must inform you, if you are yet 
to learn, that it is my duty to conquer, if I cannot 
reclaim, all those who may be hardy enough to take 
up arms against the best of Masters, as of Kings. 

I have the honor to be, in behalf of the army under 
my command, sir, your most obedient servant, 

Donald McDonald. 
To James Moore, Esq, 

When McDonald left Cross creek, with his army, 
on the morning of the 20th, or, at least when he 
wrote his first letter to General Moore, on the 19th, 
he does not appear to have thought of anything else 
than forcing his way by Moore's encampment, and, 
by capturing or dispersing his men, to continue his 
march on that side of the river, down to Fort John- 
son ; but he soon learned some important facts which 
he could hardly have known sooner ; and hence the 
difference in the tone of the two letters. On the 



82 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

evening or afternoon of the daj before the 19th, 
" Colonel Lillington, with one hundred and fifty of 
the Wilmington Minute Men, Colonel Kenon, with 
two hundred of the Duplin Militia, and Colonel Ashe, 
with about one hundred of the Volunteer Independ- 
ent Rangers," arrived at Moore's camp on Rockfish, 
and increased his number to eleven hundred. For 
an army of fifteen or sixteen hundred men, who were 
without artillery, and none of whom, except a few 
officers, had ever been exposed to the fire of an ene- 
my, or shot at anything more than the game of their 
forests, to think of passing a fortified camp, mounted 
with five pieces of artillery, manned by eleven hun- 
dred men, who were staking their lives in the cause 
of freedom, and protected in front by a stream that 
could not be crossed except on the bridge, would have 
been the height of folly. General. McDonald was a 
man of too much sense, and had seen too much of 
war, to think of such a thing; and he prudently 
resolved to take another course. 

ATTEMPT OF McDONALD TO REACH WILMINGTON. 

At night they returned upon their tracks, and 
crossed the river at Campbelton. By daylight, or a 
little after, on the morning of the 21st, the army, 
with the baggage, having been landed on the north 
side, they destroyed or sunk the boats, to prevent the 
pursuit of their enemies, and resumed their march, 
on the nearest and most practicable route, for Wil- 
mington. In places they had to open a way, and 



ATTEMPT TO REACH WILMINGTON. 83 

found some difficulty in crossing the streams ; but 
loyalty and a sense of danger nerved them to action, 
and gave them perseverance. As soon as General 
Moore was informed of this movement on the part of 
the Tories, he sent off an express to Colonel Caswell, 
who, as he tells us in his letter to Cornelius Harnett, 
was on his march to join him with about eight hun- 
dred men, and directed him to return and take pos- 
session of Corbert's Ferry over Black river, for the 
purpose of harassing the enemy, and impeding their 
progress. At the same time he ordered Colonel 
Martin and Colonel Thackston to take possession of 
Cross creek, and prevent their return in that way. 
Then, having ordered Colonel Lillington and Colonel 
Ashe to make a forced march, and if possible, re- 
inforce Colonel Caswell, or, if that could not be done, 
to take possession of Moore's creek bridge, he pro- 
ceeded himself, with the remainder of his army, to 
cross the North- West, or Cape Fear river, at Eliza- 
bethtown, with the view of meeting the enemy on 
their w^ay to Corbert's Ferry, or of falling in their 
rear and surrounding them at the river before they 
could cross. On the 24th, he crossed the Cape Fear 
at Elizabethtown ; but having learned that Colonel 
Caswell was almost entirely without provisions, he 
was compelled to wait there until the evening of the 
next day for a supply. Here he received an express 
from Colonel Caswell, informing him that the Tories 
had raised a flat which had been sunk, about five 
miles above him, and had made a bridge by which 
the whole army had passed over. On receiving this 



84 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENT?. 

intelligence, he determined to go down the river In 
boats to Dollerson's Landing, about sixty miles, and 
thence to the bridge on Moore's creek, ten miles from 
the Landing. On the next day, which was the day 
before the battle, he arrived at Dollerson's by 4 
o'clock in the afternoon ; but being unable to con- 
tinue his march that night, for want of horses to draw 
the artillery, he learned in the course of the night, 
by an express which he had sent to the bridge for 
the purpose, that Colonel Lillington had, the day 
before, taken possession of the bridge, and that, 
having been reinforced by Colonel Caswell, in the 
afternoon, they had thrown up a small breastwork, 
in an advantageous position, and had destroyed part 
of the bridge. 

Leaving Colonels Caswell and Lillington, for the 
present, thus entrenched on the south side of Moore's 
creek bridge, with two pieces of artillery, and about 
a thousand men under their command, while General 
Moore, with several pieces of artillery and about 
eight hundred men, was within a few miles, we must 
return to General McDonald and his Tory army. 
We shall here give Hugh McDonald's account of 
their progress from Cross creek, and let him speak 
for himself: 

" We marched from there down the north-west 
side of Cape Fear river for Wilmington, but, on 
learning that the Americans were embodying before 
them, they crossed the river near the mouth of 
Rockfish, and steered their course through Duplin 
county, in many places cutting their way as they 



ATTEMPT TO REACH WILMINGTON. 85 

went, until they got into the main stage road from 
Wilmington to Halifax, and then followed that road 
until we got near to Moore's creek, within eighteen 
miles of Wilmington, at which creek lay entrenched 
Richard Caswell, late Governor of North Carolina, 
with a body of American soldiers, who, after night, 
uncovered the bridge and greased the sleepers with 
soft soap and tallow." 

The general, being confined to his bed by a severe 
illness, had to be left at a house about eight miles 
from the scene of action, and this calamity was at 
once the precursor and the cause of still heavier ones 
which they were soon to experience. Hitherto the 
great object of General McDonald, and of his ablest 
oflScers, had been, not to fight if it could be avoided, 
nor to risk a battle which might prove fatal to them, 
but to avoid such an alternative by expeditious move- 
ments, and reach the governor below Wilmington, 
where they expected to find Sir Henry Clinton and 
Lord William Campbell with a considerable land and 
naval force, and be able, in a short time, to make an 
aggressive and successful advance into the upper 
country. The aim of the patriots, on the contrary, 
was, in the first place, to keep between them and the 
Governor, so as to frustrate their plans ; and, in the 
next place, to bring them, if possible,' to an engage- 
ment. Now they had gained their object. By 
skilful manoeuvring and by great adroitness in the 
execution of their plans, they had got an advanta- 
geous position on the road along which the army was 
marching, and only a few miles in tlieir front. While 



SQ REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

McDonald with liis army was crossing the south river, 
on the evening of the 26th, Caswell and Lillington 
were throwing up their entrenchments at the bridge, 
and preparing for the conflict. Under these circum- 
stances the Tories were almost compelled to fight, or 
at least they thought they must face their enemies in 
battle, or take a course which would bring on them 
the imputation of cowardice, and might, after all, 
disappoint their plans. 

On the evening before the battle, and, we presume, 
before they left their general, a council of war was 
held, the main object of which was to decide the 
question whether they should attempt to keep the 
road and manfully contest "the right of way" with 
their adversaries, or take some other course. All 
the old and experienced officers. General McDonald, 
if present, as we suppose he w^as, though unable to 
take much part in the deliberations. Col. Donald 
McLeod, on whom the command now devolved by 
common consent, as well as by priority of rank, and 
others who had seen and learned something of war in 
the British service, were strongly opposed to the 
measure, and contended that the difiiculty and danger 
of forcing their way in the face of an enemy two- 
thirds their own number, so strongly posted, defend- 
ed by their entrenchments, mounted with two pieces 
of artillery, and protected in front by a stream that 
was impassable except on a narrow bridge, which 
could be raked all the time by their guns, were too 
great to be attempted, under any circumstances, even 
with regular troops, much less by militia, who knew 



ATTEMPT TO REACH WILMINGTON. 87 

nothing of war and were altogether without artillery ; 
that the difficulty could be avoided in a much easier 
and safer way ; for they had learned from good 
authority that by making a circuitous march of only 
a few miles, they could easily cross the stream at 
another place, and then, if they should be compelled 
to fight, they could meet the rebels on equal ground ; 
but these counsels, so manifestly the dictates of wis- 
dom, and so well supported by the known facts in the 
case, were opposed by others, especially by the young, 
the self-conceited and hot-headed, who only sneered 
at the idea of shunning their enemies, and gave some 
distant hints of cowardice. They carried their point ; 
and it was determined to make the attack next morning. 
As the only substitute which they could make for 
artillery, they selected seventy or seventy-five of the 
stoutest and most resolute men in the army, who were 
considered the best swordsmen in it, and were armed 
with the Highland claymores, or broad swords, which 
were such a terror to the poor persecuted Covenan- 
ters in the days of the bloody Claverhouse and others 
who were hardly less savage in their disposition. 
These seventy-five men were formed into a company 
under the command of Capt. John Campbell, and 
were to have the post of greatest danger. They 
were to rush over the bridge in front of the army 
and storm the works, sword in hand. What other 
arrangements were made or orders given preparatory 
to the assault, we have not learned, but the fate of 
this company was the most important, for on it 
depended the issue of the battle. 



88 IIEVULUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

In Jones' Defence of North Carolina, we are told 
that Colonels Caswell and Lillington got information 
the night before the battle, of the contemplated 
attack, from a man by the name of Felix Kenon, a 
kind of "go-between," a man who was deficient in 
honesty or firmness, and perhaps in both. He went 
into the camp and told them that an attack would be 
made early next morning. This put them on their 
guard, and the arrangements were made accordingly. 
Lillington's men were drawn up across the peninsula, 
and lay on their arms all night. 

BATTLE OF MOORE'S CREEK. 

Next morning by day-break, the sound of the 
bugle and the bag-pipe summoned the men to arms ; 
and in a few minutes the whole army, under the 
command of Colonel McLeod, commenced their march 
in good order, but with great eagerness for the attack. 
When they came in sight, all was still as the grave 
on the American side, and comparatively few men 
were to be seen. A small entrenchment, which stood 
near the bridge appeared to be deserted ; and taking 
it for granted that they would have an easy conquest, 
they rushed on with increased confidence, Colonel 
McLeod walking the sleepers in front, side by side 
with Capt. John Campbell and his company of swords- 
men pressing on their heels. Crossing the bridge 
was, on every account, difficult and perilous. The 
sleepers being round pine logs with the bark peeled 
off, and very slippery, some of the foremost fell into 



BATTLE OF MOORE's CREEK. 89 

the stream, and being encumbered with heavy armor, 
probably sunk to rise no more. Others, by sticking 
the points of their big swords into the logs, stayed 
themselves up in that way and were enabled to pro- 
ceed until they were shot down. The bridge was 
raked, too, at short intervals, by the cannon, and a 
shower of rifle balls was almost incessantly poured 
upon it from the breast-works. Colonel McLeod and 
Captain Campbell got over the bridge, but fell within 
a few steps of the entrenchment, and nearly side by 
side, as they had walked the sleepers. McLeod had 
received in his body more than twenty balls, and ex- 
pired, cheering on his men with his last breath. For 
ten or fifteen minutes the contest was bloody, and 
great havoc was made in the ranks of the Tories, 
especially of those who attempted to cross on the 
bridge; but at this juncture, fortunately, perhaps, 
for both sides, or at least for the cause of humanity, 
Lieutenant Slocum, with a small detachment, found 
a place where he could ford the stream, and going 
round attacked them in the rear. Lillington and Cas- 
well, with their men, seeing the advantage gained, 
immediately rushed over, Lillington leading the way, 
as his position was in front, the post of danger and 
of honor ; and the Tories, finding themselves so 
fiercely assailed before and behind, became panic 
struck and instantly fled in every direction. 

Many were taken prisoners on the ground ; 
many more were taken within a few days ; and some 
perhaps, returning to their sick General, attempted 
to rally in his defence; but, not having recovered 



90 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

from the dispiriting effects of their recent defeat, and 
being impetuously assailed by the patriots, now 
flushed with victory, they were soon captured or put 
to flight. We like, in such cases, to hear the state- 
ments of eye-witnesses ; and Hugh McDonald, though 
only a boy at the time, not fourteen years of age, 
gives the following brief account of this transaction, 
which will probably be gratifying to the reader. 

" In our Tory party was a Captain, John Campbell, 
(Scalpie,) who commanded the Broad-swordsmen, con- 
sisting principally of McRae's strong, resolute men, 
ignorant, untutored and untrained to the use of arms, 
but every one of that company had his broad- sword 
drawn and marched in front, a little before day, to 
the bridge. Colonel Donald McLeod marching side 
by side, with Captain Campbell on the right, each 
sleeper thickly covered with broad-swordsmen, and 
the front were about to gain land on the other side, 
when Caswell let go his artillery and musketry on 
them, when Colonel McLeod received twenty-four 
balls in his body before he fell (with nearly all w^io 
were on the bridge). He gained the land, however, 
and fell, calling upon his soldiers to fight on ; for 
America should not be free, while all who were able 
were running back as fast as they could, and left their 
brave commander to rest forever. Their Captain 
Campbell also fell. The surviving part of the com- 
pany retreated with precipitancy about eight miles 
back to camp, where they found General McDonald 
asleep in his tent, to whom their defeat was a melan- 
choly story ; and, not being willing to try a second 



BATTLE OF MOORE's CREEK. 91 

attack, we retreated for Smith's ferry on the Cape 
Fear river, about twenty-six miles above Crosscreek." 

There was a man in the battle, on the Whig side, 
by the name of Richard Harell, who lived on the 
Cape Fear to quite an advanced age ; and who, when 
in company afterwards with his friends, and especially 
when in a convivial mood, would frequently describe 
the battle, and his own feelings, too, with a great 
deal of frankness. As he was a man of respectable 
standing in his neighborhood, according to my in- 
formation, and had a character for truth and honesty, 
his account is regarded, not only as worthy of credit, 
but as being the more interesting on account of his 
having been an eye-witness and an actor in the scene. 

When they first came in sight, advancing through 
the open pine woods on the long slope of descending 
ground, tljeir oflScers well dressed in gay regimentals, 
banners and plumes waving in the breeze, and all 
marching in good order but with quick step, to the 
sound of their pibrochs, while the thrilling notes of 
the bugle were heard in the distance, they made quite 
a formidable appearance and he felt a good deal of 
trepidation. He had never before heard the din of 
war, nor seen an army ready to engage in the work 
of wholesale destruction. He had never been called 
to shoot down his fellow men, some of them his 
neighbors and acquaintance, nor had he ever seen 
them shot down by scores at a time ; and no wonder 
if his nerves were a little excited. The firing com- 
menced with the small arms, and continued for a 
round or two; but our friend said he could neither 



92 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

load nor fire with a very steady hand. They had two 
pieces of artillery, one of which had by some means 
or other, got the soubriquet of Mother Covington, 
and for that or some other reason, was rather a favor- 
ite with the men. Not wishing to act cowardly, or be 
suspected of doing so, he kept trying to do his part, 
but was all the time wishing most heartily he could 
hear what Old Mother Covington had to say. At 
last she let out, and with terrible effect. From that 
moment, he said, his fear was all gone, and he could 
load and fire with as much composure, as if he had 
been shooting squirrels. 

The number of killed and wounded, seems never to 
have been ascertained with anything like certainty, 
because many fell into the creek, and being entangled 
or encumbered with their armor, sunk and were never 
found. A number of both killed and wounded, were 
no doubt carried away by their friends, and some of 
the wounded may have got away themselves, who, 
whether they died or recovered, were never known to 
the Whigs. Col. Caswell, in his letter to the North 
Carolina Congress, dated Feb. 29th, 1776, says, 
'' The number killed and mortally wounded, from the 
best accounts I was able to collect, was about thirty ; 
most of them were shot on passing the bridge. 
Several had fallen into the water, some of whom, I 
am pretty certain, had not risen yesterday evening, 
when I left the camp. Such prisoners as we have 
made, say there were at least fifty of their men mis- 
sing." General Moore, in his letter to Cornelius 
Harnett, dated two days later, says, " The loss of the 



BATTLE OF MOORE's CREEK. 93 

enemy in this action, from the best accounts we have 
been able to learn, is about thirty killed and wounded; 
but as numbers of them must have fallen into the 
creek, besides many more that were carried off, I 
suppose that their loss may be estimated at about 
fifty. We had only two wounded, one of which died 
this day." 

One of McBride's correspondents, after stating 
that all who got over the bridge, except Col. McLeod, 
belonged to Campbell's company of swordsmen, says 
he could not make out more than nine. Col. Donald 
McLeod, Capt. John Campbell, Duncan McRae, Wil- 
liam Stewart, Kenneth Murchison, Laughlin Bethune, 
Murdock McRae, Alexander Campbell, and John 
Mc Arthur, who got over the bridge, of whom the 
three last were taken the next morning to Wilming- 
ton as prisoners, and all died of their wounds within 
a week. The others recrossed the bridge, but were 
all wounded, and Stuart died of his wounds in the 
course of a few days. " A doctor attended on them, 
and they were treated with humanity, but were not 
allowed to be buried in the grave yard." He says 
again, " I have seen a man by the name of McRae, 
who, I believe, lost an arm at that time ; but no one 
noAV recollects his given name." We presume, how- 
ever, that more must have got over the bridge, for 
another of McBride's correspondents, says he cannot 
ascertain more than fifteen or twenty who got over, 
every one of whom was either killed or wounded, and 
an intelligent gentleman now living in the Scotch 
region, when writing to me last fall, says there was a 



94 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

man from Cross creek, by the name of Campbell* 
called in GalicFar-earst, who, by a desperate kind of 
valor, rushed over the bridge, but had hardly set his 
foot on the ground, when his body was literally rid- 
dled by the rifle-balls, and he fell dead on the spot. 
Probably, if a careful enquiry into this matter had 
been made fifty years ago, a larger number of killed, 
•VYOunded and missing, would have been found ; but 
this was not the most important result of the battle. 

CONSEQUENCES OF THE BATTLE. 

As the country was now just entering on a seven 
years' war, without experience in the military line, 
and almost without resources of any kind, the victory 
gained at Moore's creek, was on several accounts, 
exceedingly important." "Fifteen hundred rifles," 
as Governor Swain states in his lecture, " all of them 
excellent pieces, three hundred and fifty guns and 
shot-bags, one hundred and fifty swords and dirks, 
two medicine chests immediately from England, one 
valued at three hundred pounds sterling, ($1,500,) 
thirteen waggons with complete sets of horses, a box 
of Johannes and English guineas, amounting to fifteen 
thousand pounds sterling, ($75,000,) and eight hun- 
dred and fifty common soldiers, were among the tro- 
phies of the field." On the score of dollars and 
cents therefore, the victory was important ; and espe- 
cially as the most valuable portion of these spoils had 
been furnished by our foreign enemies. 

By their conflict at the bridge and by the victory 



CONSEQUENCES OF THE BATTLE. 95 

achieved, they gained some military experience and 
a more intelligent confidence in themselves, which 
was of more advantage to them and to the country, 
than all the spoils taken from their enemies. They 
compelled Europeans, even their haughty oppressors, 
who thought themselves invincible and looked with 
contempt upon us, to respect their skill and prowess ; 
for, to the intrepidity, zeal, and good management of 
the leaders, the British authorities mainly ascribed 
the victory ; but the great advantage gained by this 
triumph of the patriots at Moore's creek, consisted 
in disappointing the great scheme which had been 
formed for the subjugation of North Carolina, and in 
breaking up so completely the combination of their 
enemies at home. It was just at the right time to 
have the most salutary efiect both on those who had 
embarked in the cause of independence, and on these 
with whom they had to contend. Just about this 
time, or a very little after. Sir Henry Clinton and 
Lord William Campbell were entering the Cape Fear, 
with a considerable force ; Sir Peter Parker, with ten 
or twelve ships, and Lord Cornwallis, with seven regi- 
ments were expected every hour; and in two or three 
days more, Clinton and Campbell could have co-ope- 
rated with their friends here and marched in triumph 
where they pleased ; but bitter must have been their 
disappointment, on reaching Fort Johnson, to learn 
that, when they were on the very eve of attaining 
the object of their expedition, the embodied loyalists 
of the State had been discomfited with great slaughter 
and so nearly within striking distance, that all who 



96 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

survived the fatal day had heen either captured or 
scattered to the four winds of heaven ; and that all 
their hopes were, for the present, completely blasted. 
The Tories were conquered, disarmed, and so effectu- 
ally cowed, that they could never embody again in 
any considerable numbers, and, for the present, 
were glad to save their lives in any way they could. 
Perhaps the Whigs, at least that portion of them who 
had been engaged in the conflict, now held them in 
too much contempt and felt too much resentment. 
True, they had great provocation, and their state 
of feelings was not at all strange. When the 
country, after all that they had suffered from the 
measures of the British government, and all the 
extortions of its officers here, were making a united 
and determined effort to throw off the authority of 
that government altogether and become independent; 
that a portion of the citizens should arise in defence 
of the power that was oppressing us and do all they 
could to perpetuate our bondage and sufferings, was 
trying and hard to bear. 

It was natural that they should feel indignant, but 
owing to the utter contempt which they now felt for 
their Tory enemies, irresponsible or small companies, 
when ranging over that region for the purpose of 
apprehending or overawing them, were frequently led 
to commit depredations and cruelties which they would 
not have committed on an enemy whose prowess and 
magnanimity they respected; and they were some- 
times betrayed into a neglect or want of vigilance. 
The following extract of a letter from a gentleman 



CONSEQUENCES OF THE BATTLE. 97 

in North Carolina, which was written a few days 
after the battle, and for which I am indebted to Gov. 
Swain, gives us a very good idea of the resentment 
which was generally felt against the loyalists and of 
the zeal for independence which was kindled up over 
the country by the victory at Moore's Creek. The 
letter was dated March 10th, 1776 : — " How amaz- 
ingly mortified must they (Clinton, Campbell, and 
Martin,) prove, in finding that this weak, poor, and 
insignificant Carolina, in less than fifteen days, could 
turn out more than ten thousand independent gentle- 
men volunteers, and within that time to pursue them 
to the very scene of action. Since I was born I 
never heard so universal an ardor for fighting prevail 
and so perfect a union among all degrees of men." 
In regard to the Tories who had just met with such a 
sad discomfiture, the writer uses such language as 
this : — " Rascally disturbers of government, called 
Highlanders and Regulators — defeated and routed 
villains." It was this state of feeling that made 
North Carolina so much more forward than the other 
States to declare for independence, and has given 
her such a prominent place among the "old thir- 
teen." We do not claim for her people more intel- 
ligence, or a clearer understanding of their rights, 
than belonged to those of some other States; but 
they had suffered more from the British government, 
and from its unprincipled officers here. This roused 
their feelings to a greater intensity, and made them 
study their rights and the consequences of passive 

9 



98 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

obedience, as well as of resistance to the British 
power, with more assiduity and earnestness. 

In another letter from North Carolina, which was 
written two or three weeks later, and which is given 
in Governor Swain's lecture, without alteration, the 
writer tells us that the inhabitants of Virginia, through 
which he had just travelled, were desirous of inde- 
pendence, but the people of North Carolina, owing to 
the "fatigue, trouble and danger which they had, for 
some time, undergone, by far exceeded them; that 
gentlemen of the first fortune in the province had 
marched as common soldiers ; and to encourage and 
give spirit to the men, had " footed it the whole time ;" 
that Cornwallis, with seven regiments, was expected 
every day ; and that Clinton was then in the Cape 
Fear with Governor Martin, who had coaxed a number 
of slaves to leave their masters, and was practising 
every thing base and wicked ; that these things had 
wholly changed the temper and disposition of the 
inhabitants, who, having lost all regard or fondness 
for the king and nation of Britain, wanted a total 
separation, and that independence was the word com- 
monly used ; that they were asking if any Colony, 
after what had passed, could possibly wish for a recon- 
ciliation ; that in many counties there was not a dis- 
senting voice ; and that four more battalions were 
directed to be raised, which would make six in the 
province. With such sentiments and feelings, so 
generally prevalent, and so enthusiastically avowed, 
it is not strange that the representatives of the people 
in the Provincial Congress, which met, April 4th, in 
Halifax, slinuld have passed a unanimous resolution 



CONSEQUENCES OF THE BATTLE. 99 

on the 12th, " that the delegates for this Colony in 
the Continental Congress be empowered to concur 
with the delegates of the other colonies in declaring 
independence and forming foreign alliances." Thus 
North Carolina had the honor of being the first one 
of the Colonies to proclaim her wish for a declaration 
of independence by the regularly constituted authori- 
ties. Independence had been formally declared in 
one section of the Province, nearly a year before, 
with an intelligence, a firmness and a cool delibera- 
tion which have immortalized their names and their 
county ; but now the voice of the whole Province is 
heard, through her Representatives in Congress as- 
sembled, weeks before any of the others spoke in the 
same way, or were ready to concur with her, calling 
upon the nation, the United Provinces, by and through 
their representatives in the Continental Congress, to 
sanction, by their united voice, what had already been 
so nobly done by a portion of her citizens. 

The patriots were so much elated, and such an 
enthusiasm was kindled up over the country, by the 
victory at Moore's creek, which was so complete and 
so easily gained, that, as we intimated a while ago, 
they might possibly hold their conquered enemies in 
too much contempt and become so neglectful of all 
precautionary measures as to be in danger of a sur- 
prize ; and many instances of this kind occurred after- 
wards, in the course of the war ; but one will suffice 
for the present. 

Near the time of the battle at Moore's creek. Colonel 
Reid and Captain Walter Cunningham, having col- 



100 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

lected a party of men, about a hundred, more or less, 
were on their way to join the army at Cross creek; 
but, as McDonald had left sooner than was expected, 
when they were approaching the town, they heard of 
the defeat. Reed and Cunningham, however, re- 
solved to go on with such of their followers as were 
willing to accompany them ; and, if possible, by 
forced marches on the south side of the river, to 
reach Fort Johnson. When they gave the men their 
choice, either to go on with them or return home, 
only fourteen consented to go, making sixteen in all ; 
and they resumed their march ; but, on entering the 
town, late in the evening, they were informed that 
Cochrane's was occupied by a Whig force greatly 
superior to their own ; but that they were off their 
guard, and might perhaps be taken by surprise. The 
fact was, that a company of Whigs had come to Cross 
creek the next evening after the battle, on their return 
home, and had taken up their lodging in the mill. 
Having been on constant fatigue for several days, 
and having slept very little for two or three nights 
previous, they were worn down ; and having no sus- 
picion whatever, that there was an enemy in arms 
any where in that region, as McDonald's army had 
just been so completely routed and dispersed, they 
had gone to sleep without making any barricade or 
posting a single sentinel. Keid and his party imme- 
diately resolved to surprise them; and having reached 
the door of the mill without being discovered, ,Reid 
called on them to surrender instantly, if they ex- 
pected quarters, at the same time giving such orders 



CONSEQUENCES OF THE BATTLE. 101 

to his men as made them believe that he had a large 
force. They accordingly surrendered as prisoners of 
war, and without attempting to make any resistance ; 
but, after disarming them, so that they could not 
immediately pursue him, which was the main thing 
he had in view, he let them go, and marched with 
great rapidity to Fort Johnson, where he got on 
board a British sloop of war with the whole of his 
little party, and thus taught the Whigs a lesson for 
the future. 

It was stated on a former page that eight hundred 
and fifty common soldiers were made prisoners on the 
field of battle, but Col. Alexander McLeod, Glendeln, 
effected his escape, crossed the river by some means 
or other, and made his way down on the west side, 
to Fort Johnston. General McDonald, Allan Mc- 
Donald, of Kingsboro', Morrison and some other offi- 
cers were taken, and in a short time sent off' to the 
Provincial Congress at Halifax, for their disposal. In 
his Defence of North Carolina, Jones says that "many 
of the Scotch fought around the camp of their sick 
General with wonderful intrepidity, and yielded him 
up a prisoner, only after every means of defence was 
exhausted." That such has been ever since the tra- 
dition in that part of the country, there is no doubt ; 
and perhaps he relied on that as his authority. A 
correspondent who has lived all his life, sixty years or 
more, in that region, when writing to me last fall, says 
that they "rallied round the tent of their sick Gene- 
ral and fought like the 71st Regiment of the British 
Army." The 71st Begiment, as the reader probably 
9=^ 



102 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

knows, was a regiment composed entirely of Scotch- 
men, under the command of Colonel Frazer, which 
formed a part of the army of Lord Cornwallis in all 
his southern campaigns and which was noted for its 
firmness and efficiency in battle. General Moore, in 
his letter to Cornelius Harnett, says that " their 
whole army was put flight and most shamefully aban- 
doned their General, who was next day taken priso- 
ner." Hugh McDonald says nothing about it, except 
that w^hen they returned to the tent they found him 
asleep, and being pursued, they soon fled; but per- 
haps the two accounts, apparently so opposite, are 
not altogether irreconcileable. It is highly probable 
that some of them did attempt to make a stand in his 
defence, and may have fought for a short time with 
a kind of desperation; but being few in number, as 
they must have been after so many had been cap- 
tured and others frightened out of their wits, when 
furiously attacked by the Whigs, now under the full 
impulse of all the strong emotions excited by the re- 
cent conflict and victory, they were soon put to flight 
and scattered in every direction. Light armed par- 
ties of the AVhigs, under the proper officers, scoured 
the country, and in a few days many more were 
taken. Most of the prominent characters among 
both the Highlanders and Regulators, some of whom 
had not been in the battle, but being suspected and 
considered dangerous, were made prisoners with the 
others and sent to the Provincial Congress for trial. 
After trial their property was confiscated and they 
were sent to Philadelphia for safe keeping. 



CONSEQUENCES OF THE BATTLE. 103 

Among those who were taken prisoners after the 
battle, were Captain John Pyle of Chatham County, 
a man of much influence in his own county, four bro- 
thers by the name of Fields, from Guilford County, 
and others of less note ; but those of most importance 
were Thomas Rutherford and Farquard Campbell, 
both of whom were men of intelligence, wealth and 
influence in Cumberland County. Rank Tories at 
heart, bitter enemies in disguise as they were, they 
had represented that county in nearly all the conven- 
tions and meetings of the Provincial Congress until 
the last ; but still managed their cause with so much 
cunning and adroitness, that although they were all 
the time and every where suspected, nothing positive 
could be proved against them. As history and the 
records show, they were members of the first conven- 
tion which met at Newberne, August 25th, 1774 ; 
and united with apparent cordiality, in appointing 
William Hooper, Joseph Hews and Richard Caswell, 
to the first Continental Congress. They were mem- 
bers of the second Provincial Convention which met 
at the same place. They signed the articles of Ame- 
rican Association with the rest, April 3d, 1775, and 
they united with the Convention in a vote, denounc- 
ing the "equivocal conduct!' of Thomas McNight, a 
member from Currituck County, who had declined 
signing the articles of Association. They were 
members of the first Provincial Congress, which met 
at Hillsboro' in August, 1775 ; and of the second, 
which met at Halifax, April 4th, 1776. They voted 
with all the other members, for the resolution of the 



104 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

12th, instructing our delegates in the Continental 
Congress to declare for Independence. Yet they 
were, all this time, loyalists at heart, and were keep- 
ing up a good understanding with that party ; but 
Campbell seems to have been the more prominent 
one of the two, the leader and adviser in all their 
movements. He was a shrewd, "wily Scot," but an 
ambidextrous sort of a man, who had nothing honora- 
ble about him, and who played a double-handed game 
just as long as he could. When Governor Martin 
was on his way from Newberne to find refuge at Fort 
Johnson, he was hospitably entertained at the resi- 
dence of Campbell, and was so much pleased, that 
usually, when he had occasion afterwards to mention 
his name, he spoke of him as "my friend Campbell." 
For a day or two before the battle at Moore's Creek, 
according to the traditions in that part of the coun- 
try, he was one day with General McDonald, giving 
him information and advice, the next day he was with 
Lining or Caswell for the same purpose ; and was 
actually present with them during the engagement, 
apparently as good a Whig as any of them, making 
suggestions and pretending to take a deep interest in 
the fortunes of the day. 

Captain Walter Cunningham, who has been already 
mentioned as associated with Colonel Reid in the 
capture of the Whigs at Cochrane's Mill, was a Brit- 
ish officer, I am told, and a son-in-law of Farquard 
Campbell, having married his daughter when from 
home, one night at a party in Fayetteville, and with- 
out the consent or knowledge of her parents. He 



CONSEQUENCES OF THE BATTLE. 105 

was called by the Scotch, Fotheringham or Further- 
ingham, and was quite an influential character 
among them. After living with his father-in-law, 
Farquard Campbell, about a year, ten or twelve miles 
north of Cross creek, and on the east side of the 
Cape Fear, he removed to Charleston, in South Caro- 
lina; and nothing further is known of him. If he 
was one of those British officers who, McBride says, 
had been living for some time in the country on half 
pay, he was liable to be called into service at any 
time, or lose his claim in case of refusal or neglect ; 
but if he was, at the time, a regular officer belonging 
to the British army, and had been sent among his 
countrymen by higher authority, as McDonald and 
McLeod had been, for the special purpose of aiding 
in the great effort which was making for the support 
of the royal government, and for the restoration of 
Governor Martin to his palace, which, we doubt not 
was the fact, then the reason of his leaving the coun- 
try at the time he did, becomes manifest, and lends 
further confirmation to what has been said about the 
extent of the combination, and the thorough under- 
standing between the British authorities and the 
loyalists of this country in relation to that matter. 
When their measures had been so totally disconcerted 
by the battle at Moore's creek, and when the great 
armament which had arrived in the Cape Fear, for 
the purpose of co-operating with the loyalists, left 
our shores and went south with the design of making 
an attack on Charleston, Cunningham had no longer 
any business here, and, leaving the scenes of his dis- 



106 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

appointed hopes, he went south, in compliance with 
instructions from head-quarters, to aid in their opera- 
tions there. If the truth could be known, it would 
probably be found that, throughout the troublous 
period of the Revolution, from first to last, but espe- 
cially at the beginning and towards the close, there 
were more British ofificers in the Scotch region than 
was known to the constituted authorities of the coun- 
try, or to the Whig party at large ; and it is to be 
hoped that much will yet be done to ascertain facts 
and give us a more correct understanding of the dif- 
ficulties with which the patriots of that day had to 
contend. 

The ringleaders who were made prisoners of war 
after the battle at Moore's Creek, were sent first to 
Halifax for trial, and then to Philadelphia, where 
most of them lay in prison until they were exchanged ; 
and Hugh McDonald tells us that when he was pass- 
ing along the street, not long before the battle of 
Germantown, he recognized the Scotch prisoners 
from North Carolina, and conversed with them for 
some time, through their prison window; but the 
common soldiers, with perhaps a few exceptions, were 
discharged and permitted to return home. Hugh 
McDonald, after stating that, not being willing to try 
a second attack of the Whigs, and leaving the Gen- 
eral's tent for Smith's Ferry, says, " we marched by 
Colonel Sampson's, and thence to Black Mingo, where 
we were met by a party of cavalry, with bucks' tails in 
their hats, who ordered us to club muskets, and those 
of us who had them were doing so, when a bold 



CONSEQUENCES OF THE BATTLE. 107 

Scotchman, apparently near eighty years of age, by 
the name of Malcom Ferguson, and father of the 
noted lunatic, Molly Ferguson, having no other wea- 
pon than his cane, about six feet long, drew that 
with violence in both hands; and, crying out loudly 
in his mother tongue, " Take the devil's children and 
burn them every one," struck one of them between 
the shoulders with all his force ; but the man merely 
looked at him and said, "old man, you are no object 
of my revenge." This body of horsemen went on 
with us, considering us as their prisoners, to Smith's 
Ferry, where the flat being on the other side of the 
river, we were detained until this small party of horse- 
men received a reinforcement of about five hundred, 
when our waggons and every thing were taken from 
us, the men were searched, and their ammunition was 
all taken from them. Though a boy, I did not escape 
the search ; nor was I without ammunition ; for a 
certain Malcom Morrison had a large powder horn, 
which he slipped into the seat of my old buckskin 
breeches, which was very large, and a long hunting 
shirt hung over it. This was found and taken, which 
had like to have cost me trouble ; for when my father 
learned that it was found with me, he flew at me to 
beat me ; but a gentleman interfered, and, the case 
being inquired into, I escaped my drubbing. Mor- 
rison had not less than a horse load of valuable plun- 
der, of every kind, which he was allowed to carry 
home ; and by speculating on the proceeds of it, he 
laid the foundation of a tolerable estate. 

"We all got passports and were permitted to re- 



108 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

turn homo, except our oflScers who were taken pri- 
soners and sent to Philadelphia, where thej lay in 
jail until they were exchanged, but still getting their 
full pay from his Britannic Majesty, while we were 
justly hissed at for our incredulity, and were in dan- 
ger from the citizens, who only a short time before, 
when we were without house or home, had kindly 
received us into their hospitality and friendship ; but 
notwithstanding this scouring and the just contempt 
of our fellow citizens, we remained at heart as stiff* 
Tories as ever." 

In one of McBride's papers, the writer, whose 
father was a lieutenant in the Tory army, after stating 
that Col. Alexander McLeod, Glendeln, got over the 
river and escaped to Fort Johnston, says that "Major 
Saml. McDonald also escaped, and made his way to 
his own place in Montgomery; but after reaching 
home, he lay out for some time. At length, however, 
he surrendered himself up, stood his trial at Halifax, 
and was permitted to return home, where, I think, 
he remained for two years, and then made his way 
alone through the country, to the British in Phila- 
delphia. He was then made a lieutenant in the 
British Legion, and continued in the service. My 
father was a lieutenant in the Tory army, and also 
John Martin, who was a cousin of my father's. They 
two, and one Donald Shaw, an ensign, were permitted 
to go home from Cross creek, but had to stand their 
trial in Halifax, after which they were all permitted 
to return home. 

Some time after tliis, the County Court of Cum- 



CaNSEQUENCES OF THE BATTLE. 109 

berland made an order, that sixty whom they named, 
should leave the state in sixty days, or take the state 
oath, and my father was in that number. At the next 
meeting they had, they reduced the number to six- 
teen, and my father was one of that number. 

" Then my father and some others, twelve in all, 
being conducted by Capt. Samuel Williams, made 
their way through the States of South Carolina and 
Georgia, until they got to the British at St. Augus- 
tine, in Florida." 

This detail of incidents might be continued to 
almost any length ; but as it would be digressing too 
far from the subject, and would be anticipating what 
we intend to say under another head, we shall dismiss 
it for the present with this simple remark, that the 
further it is pursued and the more fully it is investi- 
gated, the more clearly it shews the extent and depth 
of the impression which was made on the Tory popu- 
lation by their late discomfiture. 

The battle at Moore's creek was to the South 
pretty much what the battle of Lexington was to the 
North. In the former case the victory was more 
complete ; but we speak of it as a test of courage, 
and of its effects upon the community in preparing 
them for the approaching contest with the gigantic 
power of Great Britain. In both cases, it was their 
initiation into the perils and hardships of war ; and 
in both cases the effect was to arouse their ambition, 
to fire them with resentment, to increase their confi- 
dence in themselves, to give them a higher apprecia- 
tion of their riglits and confirm them in their 

10 



110 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

determination to resist the oppressive measures of 
the mother country. At Lexington they had to con- 
tend with veteran troops of the British army ; but 
those troops were foreigners, who had no sympathy 
with the people of this country, whose trade was 
w^ar, and who had hired themselves, for sixpence a 
day, to kill as many as they could, without caring 
whether the cause was just or unjust, and the Ameri- 
cans could feel little more scruple in shooting them 
down than they would in shooting as many blood- 
thirsty savages. Here, it was citizen against citizen, 
neighbor against neighbor, and, in some instances, 
perhaps they of the same household were arrayed 
against each other in the bloody strife. This required 
great moral as well as physical courage, and an intelli- 
gent, high-minded spirit of freedom. 

In attempting to compare with the impartiality of 
a historian, the advantages and disadvantages, on 
one side and the other, at Moore's creek, perhaps 
none but a military man could decide. We speak of 
the extraneous advantages and disadvantages, apart 
from the martial tact and prowess of the officers and 
men. The Tories had the advantage of numbers ; 
for they had at least a third more men than the 
patriots. They had the advantage too in having 
several officers, and perhaps a number of the rank 
and file, who had been enured to war in the British 
service — men of ability and of valor, tried by many 
a hard conflict, but they had no artillery ; their 
General was providentially prevented from directing 
their movements and leading them on to the assault ; 



CONSEQUENCES OF THE BATTLE. Ill 

they had only one way of approach to their enemies, 
and in that way was certain destruction. The 
Americans were fewer in number, and neither ofScers 
nor men had ever seen war. They were all militia, 
and this was their *' first pass at arms," but they had 
artillery — the only artillery on the field ; they were 
protected by entrenchments, and they had the most 
favorable position, perhaps, that could have been 
chosen ; for it was accessible only by one narrow 
way, even for infantry, and that was so completely 
within the range of their guns that none but an 
entire army of veteran soldiers could have been 
successful. 

If Gen. McDonald had the ability and discretion 
which the British authorities supposed, and if he had 
been at the head of the army, with his mental and 
physical strength entire, we can hardly believe that, 
in the face of a thousand men, all good marksmen, 
and armed with rifles, sheltered behind their breast- 
works and defended by cannon, he would have 
attempted an assault, with fifteen hundred militia, 
and by the slow process of walking the three or four 
round, smooth sleepers of a narrow bridge, which 
could be all the time raked by the artillery, and 
swept by a perfect storm of rifle balls. They had 
men enough, and by valor and ingenuity, they might 
have succeeded. Though two or three hundred lives 
might have been sacrificed, still, by a united efl'ort on 
the part of the whole army, the rest might have 
gained the other side, when they could have fought 
hand to hand with their enemies ; but here was the 



112 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

test of courage; there were not that many in the 
army who were ready to sacrifice their lives for 
King George; and when the leaders, with the few 
others who first made the attempt were all so sud- 
denly cut down, the rest became panic struck and 
fled in every direction. 



WHO HAD THE COMMAND OF THE PATRIOTS? 

In the battle of Moore's creek, which, in its results, 
was so important to the cause of independence, and 
which reflected so much honor upon the ofiicers and 
men who achieved the victory. Colonel Caswell has 
been regarded as having the command ; and the Pro- 
vincial Congress, which met at Halifax on the 4th of 
April following, passed a vote of thanks to him and 
the brave officers and men under his command, of 
which I find the following notice on their Journal, 
under date of April 15th, 1776: — 

"Pursuant to a resolve of the 11th instant, Mr. 
President presented the thanks of the Congress to 
Col. Richard Caswell, and the brave officers and 
soldiers under his command, for the very essential 
service by them rendered this colony at the late 
battle of Moore's creek." 

It seems, that of all the provincial forces in that 
quarter. Colonel Moore, who was soon after made a 
brigadier general, was the highest in command, and 
directed the general movements previous to the 



COMMANDER OP THE PxVTRIOT?. 113 

battle. la fact, it was by his orders that the posi- 
tion was taken and fortified at Moore's creek ; but 
as he was providentially prevented from being pre- 
sent at the engagement, the command devolved on 
Caswell as the senior officer; and, according to 
military usage, it was his duty to take the command, 
unless he had a good reason for declining or yielding 
it to another. It has been understood that Jones, in 
his Defence of North Carolina, gives the command 
to Col. Lillington, but he does not expressly say so, 
nor did he probably mean any thing more than to 
make him prominent and give him as much honor as 
he could. In this we are not disposed to censure 
him much, for Lillington certainly acted a con- 
spicuous part, and rendered most important services 
to the country. 

It sometimes happens in a battle, that an officer 
even of lower grade, actually does more towards 
gaining the victory, by some dexterous movement 
on his own responsibility, than the one highest in 
command ; but that does not give him the command. 
The present writer certainly has no disposition to 
detract one iota from his well deserved renown; but 
if Lillington, or any other, really had the command 
during the engagement, it ought to be shown that 
the Provincial Congress was mistaken, and that all 
the public documents of that day, as well as the 
general understanding of the country down to this 
time, were erroneous. Jones says, "He was the 
junior of Col. Caswell in rank; but from the positior 
10* 



114 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

of the latter, it was impossible for liim to share in 
the earlier labors of the day." A very natural 
supposition about it would be, that Col. Lillington 
having, with the men under his command, arrived on 
the ground first, by a few hours, took his position 
near the bridge — whether with or without a distinct 
reference in his own mind to the fact, that it would 
probably become the post of danger, and might 
require all the military tact and courage which he 
possessed, can have no bearing on the present ques- 
tion; — and that when Col. Caswell arrived with his 
corps, as there was not room, according to all the 
descriptions of the locality which I have read or 
heard, for him to post his men, even abreast with 
those of Lillington, he took his position in the rear, 
from the necessity of the case, and without the ques- 
tion of priority in command having been " mooted," 
or even started. If his men could not so generally 
share in the first of the conflict, he could issue his 
orders, if any were necessary, from one point as well 
as from another ; and his men may have eventually 
done as much as those of Lillington, or even more ; 
but that neither he nor his men were idle, even from 
the first, appears from other testimony, and from 
the fact that the only man killed, on the Whig side, 
belonged to his corps. For the following communi- 
cations I am indebted to Governor Swain : both of 
them are from the same hand, the first having been 
published in one of our weekly papers, the other 
being a letter, addressed by the writer, of his own 
accord, to the governor; and, presuming that they 



COMMANDER OF THE PATRIOTS. 115 

will be as interesting to the reader as they have been 
to the writer, no apology is made or deemed neces- 
sary for transferring them to our pages. 

For the Journal. 

To " Shelton." — Sir : — Your communication in last 
Friday's Journal, on the subject of the battle of 
Moore's creek, is my apology for addressing you on 
this occasion. John Grady, a private from Duplin 
county, under Capt. James Love, and in Col Cas- 
well's regiment, was the first man, and if I have been 
correctly informed, the only man, who was killed on 
our side, in the battle of Moore's creek, in your 
county, on the 27th of February, 1776 ; and conse- 
quently, the first man who was killed in regular com- 
bat in North Carolina, in the revolutionary war, in 
defence of liberty. Now the battle of Alamance was 
fought some five years before the battle of Moore's 
creek ; but that battle was fought in what was called 
the regulation war,— a war to correct colonial aiid 
official abuses, rather than throw off the yoke of Bri- 
tish oppression. Caswell's men fought behind breast- 
works, and, being anxious to take a more sure aim at 
the enemy, the deceased raised himself above the 
breast-works, and a ball passed through his head. 
On Col. Caswell's return from the battle to Kinston, 
he called at the house of my grandfather, and informed 
him of the above circumstance— which he told me 
himself some forty years ago. Also, two old men of 
this county, long since dead — one by the name of 
Holland, and the other by the name of Harrel, told 



116 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

me, some twenty years ago, they saw the deceased 
shot down ; and in relating the circumstance, one of 
them wept like a cliild, and although it had then been 
more than half a century since the battle was fought. 
Now, if you know where the deceased was buried, 
[his relations all think he was buried in Wilmington] 
and will point out the spot, you will confer a favor on 
your humble servant. If his remains are dissolved, 
there is one vestige by which the spot maybe unmis- 
takably identified. When his corpse was laid in his 
cofiin, Capt. Love enveloped his own sword in a silk 
handkerchief, and placed it on his breast ; so if his 
remains are dissolved, Capt. Love's s^vord is not. 

A. 0. Grady. 
Duplin county. 

We have given the above communication entire, not 
only because we supposed our readers would like to 
know the name of the first man, in the South, who, 
during the revolutionary struggle, fell a sacrifice in 
the cause of Independence, but because we supposed 
they would prefer to have the account in the language 
of one who seems to have lived all his life in that 
region, and who, if not a son of the one who was 
killed, we presume was a descendant of some collate- 
ral branch of the same family, and whose testimony 
is therefore reliable. 

The slip containing the above communication from 
the Journal was accompanied with a letter by the 
same writer, which we also give entire, not only be- 
cause it throws some additional liorht on the battle 



COMMANDER OF THE PATRIOTS. 117 

scene, but because it contains a reliable testimony 
which is in accordance with the decisions of the con- 
stituted authorities and the general understanding of 
the community down to the present time, in regard 
to the position of Col. Caswell and the part which he 
performed on that memorable occasion. 

Sir: — In the September No. of the University 
Magazine, I see an article on " the battle of Moore's 
creek bridge," in which the writer says, that Mr. 
Jones, in his defence of North Carolina, ascribes to 
Colonel Lillington "the honors of the day;" and it 
also seems that he (Mr. Jones) rather questions the 
courage or efficiency of Grov. Castvell on this occasion. 
Now I can remember back to within little more than 
thirty years after that battle ; had a relation killed 
in it — as you will see from the enclosed, and, in my 
boyhood, heard it spoken of hundreds of times, and 
this is the first time iji my life, that ever /heard either 
Governor Caswell's courage or efficiency doubted ; on 
the contrary, I always understood that he was the 
Commander-in-chief, who directed the movements of 
the army, and that the "honors of the day" belonged 
to him. I also saw it stated in the Wilmington Jour- 
nal, last summer, that a citizen of New Hanover 
county applied the match to the cannon which swept 
Colonel McLeod and the others off the bridge. Here 
is another mistake, unless I have always been wrongly 
informed ; for I always understood, that after several 
ineffectual attempts had been made to fire the cannon, 
by applying the match; and after McLeod and his 



118 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

men had nearly crossed over the bridge, that Colonel 
Castvell rode up Jtvnself and fired his pistol into the 
touch-hole, when she went off. Governor Caswell's 
character for courage, military skill and patriotism, 
is too well established, in this quarter, where he was 
best known, for him, or his name, to be deprived of 
any of his laurels at this late day, by anybody s de- 
fence of North Carolina. 

Kespectfully, 

A. 0. Grady. 
Oct. 29, 1853. 

The following anecdote is well known over the 
neighborhood in which it occurred ; and as it is illus- 
trative of the times, it was thought to be worth pre- 
serving. Being in accordance with the design of 
this work and confirmatory of the testimony above 
given by Mr. Grady, we insert it here on the authority 
of a uniform and what we may regard as a consistent 
and reliable tradition. 

Soon after the battle, a day of general thanks- 
giving for the victory was appointed by the consti- 
tuted authorities, which met the approbation of all 
classes. At a time when people were made to feel 
and recognize their dependence on a higher power, 
such an appointment was in full harmony with pub- 
lic sentiment, and was observed with a good deal of 
sincerity, especially by all the religious and sober 
thinking portion of the community. In those churches 
which had settled pastors, or were furnished with the 
stated ministrations of the gospel, a sermon was 



COMMANDER OF THE PATRIOTS. 119 

preached and all the religious exercises observed 
which were common on the Sabbath. All these ser- 
vices were held in the church of the Hawfields, and 
a sermon preached to a large and earnest congrega- 
tion. There was a man present bj the name of 
James Hodge, if I mistake not, who had been in the 
battle of Moore's Creek, and was an eye-witness to 
the part performed by Caswell and others. When 
the preacher, the Rev. Mr. Debow, was dwelling 
with much warmth on the evidences of an overruling 
Providence on that crisis in our political destiny, and 
on the reasons we had to be thankful to the Almighty 
for giving us the victory, Hodge rose up in some 
excitement and said, " Well, if this is the way that 
God Almighty is to have all the credit, and Dick Cas- 
well none, I'll not stay here any longer ;" and imme- 
diately left the congregation. 

Any further remarks on this point are unnecessary 
and would become tedious. If the command had de- 
volved on Colonel Ashe or any other officer it would 
hav-e been his duty to make report of the action and 
its result to the Council of Safety; Caswell made the 
report ; and the tone of his letter indicates a con- 
sciousness on his part that the responsibility rested 
upon him as the highest in command. We presume, 
however, that during the action, as the arena of 
strife was a very narrow one, and the enemy could 
approach them only at one point, very little com- 
manding was necessary ; but that all, officers and 
men, understood their duty, and being prompted by 
a common sense of danger, as well as by a common 



120 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

zeal in the cause of independence, they were ready, 
every man in his place, to do what was required in 
such an exigency. Perhaps men never acted, on 
such an occasion, with more harmony or from more 
lofty principles; for they probably realized more 
fully than we can lo now the immense importance 
of the contest, and the consequences which must 
result to the country, as well as to themselves, from 
victory or defeat. 

CHARACTER OF THE COMMANDING OFFICERS. 

No man in North Carolina, during the war, 
enjoyed the public confidence in a higher degree, or 
filled more places of public trust and responsibility, 
than Richard Caswell. Almost from his first en- 
trance on the theatre of active life, he appears to 
have been a public servant, and to have occupied at 
different times nearly every post of difficulty and 
peril, of honor and profit, during that eventful period. 
When the writer first came into this part of the 
country, young, inexperienced and very imperfectly 
acquainted with the history of his native State, he 
frequently heard old men of intelligence, who had 
known him personally in their youth, speaking of 
him in terms of high commendation, as a man of 
moral integrity and of intellectual vigor. With a 
mind which could soon master any subject within the 
ordinary range of human attainment, and with a 
versatility of powers which soon fitted him for any 
department of business, he could go from the pursuit 



CHARACTER OF COMMANDING OFFICERS. 121 

of his early clioice, and for which alone his training 
might be supposed to have fitted him, to one of an 
opposite kind, and, after a day or two for inquiry 
and reflection, be perfectly at home. Everywhere 
and at all times, whether in the legislative, executive, 
financial or military department, he was the same 
competent and trustworthy servant of the public. 
Everywhere he met the responsibilities of his station 
•with becoming dignity and to the entire satisfaction 
of those for whom he acted. He was first, as stated 
in Lossing's Field Book, deputy surveyor of the 
Colony, and Clerk of the County Court of Orange, 
in 1753 ; then, a lawyer of high reputation, for a 
young man, in his profession ; a member of the 
Colonial Assembly, for Johnson County, from 1754 
to 1771, during the last two years of which he was 
Speaker of the Commons ; a Colonel of militia in his 
own county, and as such, commanded the right wing 
of Governor Tryon's army in his battle with the 
Regulators, May 16th, 1771 ; a delegate to the first 
Continental Congress, which met in 1774 ; appointed 
in September Treasurer of the Southern District of 
North Carolina; Commander-in-chief at the battle 
of Moore's creek, Feb. 27th, 1776, for which he 
received the thanks of the Provincial Congress and 
of the whole country ; in a few days after, the same 
Congress, as an additional honor and a further ex- 
pression of their confidence, appointed him "Brig- 
adier General of the militia for the District of New- 
berne ;" in November of the same year, he was chosen 
President of the Provincial Congress which formed 

11 



122 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

the State Constitution, and, in December following, 
he was elected the first Governor under that Consti- 
tution. 

This office, for which he was so well qualified, in 
that trying period of our history, he held for three 
years ; and, like Washington, he refused to receive 
any compensation for his services " beyond his 
expenses." Continuing to receive, as he deserved, 
the confidence of his countrymen, "he led the troops 
of North Carolina, under General Gates, in the 
summer of 1780, and was in the disastrous battle at 
Camden. In 1782, he was chosen speaker of the 
Senate and Controller-General, both of which offices 
he held till 1784, when he was again elected Gov- 
ernor of the State, and in the two following years, 
the full length of time for which he was eligible by 
the constitution." In 1787, he was elected, by the 
Assembly, a delegate to the convention which was to 
meet, the next May, in Philadelphia, to form a 
Federal Constitution, and had the extraordinary 
power conferred on him, if he should be unable to 
attend, of appointing his successor. In 1789, he 
was elected Senator from Dobbs county, and also a 
member of the convention which, in November, 
ratified the Federal Constitution. When the General 
Assembly met, he was chosen Speaker of the Senate ; 
but his course was run. Although his last days were 
embittered by affliction, no charge of having acted, 
at any time, inconsistently with his principles, was 
ever alleged against him, but he died as he had lived, 
with his laurels fresh upon him and in the unabated 



CHARACTER OF COMMANDING OFFICERS. 123 

confidence of the entire community in which he 
lived. 

The battle at Moore's creek was one of those 
events which appear more important the more they - 
are contemplated, and the country owes a debt of 
gratitude to the officers and men who, without experi- 
ence or precedent to sustain them, displayed so much 
firmness in the hour of perilous conflict, which has not 
yet been fully discharged. In giving to Col. Cas- 
well the command of the whole and the hishest 
honors of the day, I have merely followed the docu- 
mentary evidence and the traditions of the country. 
He was the senior officer, and the command devolved 
on him, of course. Most of the men, about eight 
hundred out of a thousand, had been previously 
under his command, and were brougnt there by him ; 
all present seem to have had full confidence in his 
ability as a commander, and nobly did he meet the 
responsibilities of his station ; but as there were 
other officers who, on that occasion, displayed equal 
valor and equal zeal in the service of their country, 
we feel disposed to give them their full share of 
honor, and to hand down their names, with untar- 
nished lustre, to the latest age. 

Of Colonel Lillington it is unnecessary to speak, 
for his character and services have been so well de- 
scribed by others that any thing further would be 
superfluous. Possessed of wealth, intelligence and 
family standing, which gave him a prominent place 
in society, his powers and influence had hitherto been 
employed in defence of his own and his country's 



124 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

rights. On every suitable occasion, his voice had 
been heard in strong and clear denunciations of 
British tyranny ; and when the crisis came he stood 
among the foremost in a manly attitude of stern and 
unyielding resistance. On the day of* battle, though 
the number of men under his immediate command 
was small, sustained by their confidence in his wis- 
dom, and animated by his ardor, they did good 
service, and won a wreath of unfading laurel. Placed 
in front, whether by his own choice or in compliance 
with orders from the commanding officer, matters not, 
to occupy the post of danger and to maintain it with 
so much firmness, under all the trying circumstances 
of the time and occasion, was honor enough. 

In his letter to Cornelius Harnett, General Moore 
tells us that on the 19th, about eight days before the 
battle, Col. Lillington, with about one hundred and 
fifty of the Wilmington Minute Men, Col. Kenon 
with two hundred of the Duplin Militia, and Col. 
Ashe with about one hundred of the Volunteer Inde- 
pendent Rangers, joined him at his camp on Rockfish, 
and that on the 20th, when informed of General 
McDonald's movements, he "ordered Col. Lillington 
and Col. Ashe by forced marches to endeavor if pos- 
sible to reinforce Col. Caswell, but if that could not 
be effected, to take possession of Moore's creek 
bridge." Then Col. Ashe must have been there, and 
we cannot suppose that he, who had all along been such 
a zealous advocate for Independence, and who had, 
only a few months before, shown such intrepidity in 
the destruction of Fort Johnston, would now be idle 



CHARACTER OF COMMANDING OFFICERS. 125 

or inefficient ; but he and Lis men, we presume, 
formed part of the corps under the immediate com- 
mand of Col. Lillington, and in a locality so con- 
fined, which could be approached by the enemy only 
in one direction, where no evolutions were necessary 
or practicable, there could be no opportunity for him 
or any other officer, with a mere handful of men, to 
distinguish himself by an independent movement nor 
by a rapid and daring assault upon the lines of the 
enemy. It was the duty of all to remain there, in 
harmonious co-operation, and standing firm, as 
patriots ought ever to do in defence of their country, 
direct their whole might against the ranks of the 
advancing foe. 

Although Colonel Ashe does not appear on the 
pages of history as having acted a conspicuous part 
on the day of the battle, he ought not, on that ac- 
count, to be passed over in silence. By the decided 
stand which, for years, he had taken against the 
encroachments of the British crown, and by the power 
of his eloquence in rousing up a spirit of patriotism 
through that region, he had done much towards pre- 
paring the way for this combined resistance to the 
enemies of our freedom, and had thus done as much 
perhaps, to obtain the victory as any other. A brief 
sketch of his life, prepared by his grandson, Mr. 
McKree, of Wilmington, has been courteously sub- 
mitted to my perusal, and permission given by the 
writer, to use any facts it contained that might be 
subservient to my purpose. From this manuscript, 

for the use of which I hereby acknowledge my obli- 
11* 



126 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

gations to Mr. McKree, it appears that Colonel Ashe 
was descended from an English family of some dis- 
tinction in that country ; and he maintained the name 
and character with equal, if not greater celebrity, in 
the New World. His father, John Baptista Ashe, 
was probably led, by his friendly connection with the 
Earl of Craven, one of the Lord's Proprietors, to 
visit the Province of North Carolina, where he soon 
became one of the leading men, and bequeathed to 
the country of his adoption an honorable name. His 
son John, who became one of our most distinguished 
citizens, was born at Granby, in Brunswick County, 
N. C, in 1720, and was consequently about fifty-six 
years of age at the commencement of the Revolution- 
ary war. For his education, which is said to have 
been liberal and thorough, he was probably sent to 
one of the English Universities ; and, on his entrance 
into professional life, after his return, he took a promi- 
nent stand. He held the rank of Colonel under the 
royal government ; but in 1775, resigning his com- 
mission, he was elected to the same office by the 
people of New Hanover County, and was the first 
one who had accepted a military commission at the 
hands of the people. In 1762, he was elected to the 
lower House of Assembly, and was elevated to the 
Speaker's chair, which was at that time an office of 
little less dignity and importance than that of the 
Executive. In this commanding position, he took 
his stand in opposition to the Stamp Act, and with 
triumphant success. 

Eloquent, patriotic in his principles, and of an 



CHARACTER OF COMMANDING OFFICERS. 127 

ardent temperament, he was well calculated to per- 
form an important part at a time when bold measures 
and decisive action were so necessary. Hence he 
was among the foremost in all Conventions, Councils 
of Safety, and Meetings of the Provincial Congress. 
In the noble and successful resistance made to the 
Stamp Act, he was the leader, the Magnus Apollo ; 
and in all deliberative bodies, where great principles 
were to be discussed, and energetic measures devised, 
he was a prominent character. When the Congress 
which met August 20th, 1775, was making out the 
military organization of the Province, he and James 
Moore were nominated as candidates for the com- 
mand of the first Regiment; but Moore got the 
commission. Returning then, with increased zeal 
and energy, to his own region, he undertook to raise 
a Regiment on his own responsibility, and succeeded 
by the weight of his character, and by pledging his 
estate, the recruits relying on his word and taking 
his promissory notes instead of pay. Governor 
Martin having taken refuge in Fort Johnston, on the 
Cape Fear, and apprehensions being entertained that 
he intended to increase its strength as a fortress, 
Colonel Ashe, at the head of five hundred men, at- 
tacked it, July 17th, 1775, and reduced it to ashes. 
In this afi'air he took the responsibility on himself, 
and with his own hand applied the torch which con- 
sumed the fort with all its appurtenances. For this 
exploit, while the fulminations of the exiled governor 
were hurled at his head, he was cheered by the plau- 
dits of his countrymen. The military organization 



128 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

made bj the Provincial Congress, was a measure for 
which the people were not then generally prepared ; 
and in some of the counties in the eastern or south- 
eastern part of the Province, meetings were held and 
protests were entered. The Council of Safety, which 
met in Johnson Court House, October 18th, 1775, 
having been made acquainted with this state of things, 
appointed Colonel Ashe, Samuel Ashe and Cornelius 
Harnett, to visit the people, explain to them the na- 
ture of the proceedings, and endeavor to satisfy their 
minds. This commission they undertook to fulfil, 
and succeeded to an extent which was creditable to 
them and gratifying to all. His ardor in the cause, 
and his services hitherto, seemed to claim for him 
some higher promotion, and the Congress which met 
in Halifax, April 4th, 1776, promoted him to the 
rank of Brigadier General of the Wilmington Dis- 
trict. This appointment he accepted, and immedi- 
ately took command of the detachments ordered for 
General Moore. 

About the beginning of 1779, be was sent with a 
large brigade under his command, on an expedition 
to Georgia. He arrived at the place of his destina- 
tion February 24th, 1776, with a force of two thou- 
sand three hundred men under his command, and 
took post on Briar creek; but here he met with a 
sad reverse of fortune. When the larger part of his 
men were absent on detached parties and for different 
purposes, he was taken rather by surprise, and met 
with a total defeat. This was alike depressing to 
Gen. Ashe and calamitous to the country. The 



CHARACTER OF COMMANDING OFFICERS. 129 

expectations of the people were disappointed, their 
prospects seemed to become more gloomy than ever, 
and, as usually happens in such cases, he was charged 
by many with imprudence or a want of generalship. 
To one who had hitherto been so prosperous and 
who was so anxious, not only to preserve the reputa- 
tion which he already had, but to render still more 
important services to his country, and to rise still 
higher in the estimation of his fellow citizens, such a 
catastrophe was almost overwhelming, and brought 
a gloom over his mind from w^hich it seems he never 
entirely recovered. The case was tried by a court 
martial, at his special request ; and the court decided 
that, "General Ashe did not take all the necessary 
precautions which he ought to have done, to secure 
his camp ; and to obtain timely intelligence of the 
movements and approach of the enemy ;" but they 
acquitted him of any imputation in regard to his 
personal courage ; and thought that he remained in 
the field as long as prudence and duty required. 
General Moultrie remarked, that " the evidence 
before the court of enquiry showed how wretchedly 
the militia armies were provided with arms and 
accoutrements ;" and General Bryant, one of the 
witnesses, said, " every thing had been done that 
the circumstances admitted of." Whether the sen- 
tence of the court was just or severe, we are incom- 
petent to decide, and must leave that for the reader, 
or rather, for men of military skill and experience ; 
but even if the defeat was owing, in some measure, 
to his impetuosity, or to a want of due precaution, 



13d REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

{IS tlicrc was no suspicion of cowardice, treachery or 
any unsoundness of moral principle, that misfortune 
could not annul the value of his past services, nor 
obliterate his claim on the gratitude of his country- 
men. Neither his friends nor his warmest admirers 
would wish to represent him as perfect, nor, by 
making him excel in every thing, to give him a pre- 
eminence above all others. His forte seems to have 
lain in parliamentary or forensic debate, and in the 
force of his popular eloquence ; but the imagination 
and the warmth of feeling, which are essential to the 
orator, and which gave him such a command of his 
audience, were unfavorable to that cool intrepidity, 
that cautious observance of circumstances, and that 
wise combination of measures which are essential to 
a military commander. 

No man can excel in every thing, and it ought not 
to be expected. Demosthenes, by the thunder of his 
eloquence, could rouse up the Athenians to march 
against Philip ; but he could not lead them on to 
battle and to victory. Cicero could sway the Con- 
script Fathers and portray their danger in such vivid 
colors, as roused them up to decisive measures against 
the powerful and infamous Cataline ; but, at the head 
of an army and on the field of battle, he would pro- 
bably have made an utter failure. Illustrations of 
the same fact might be found in every age and every 
country ; but more are unnecessary. 

Broken down in body and mind, and sinking under 
a load of disease and misfortune, according to the 
account of Mr. McKree, General Ashe returned to 



CHARACTER OF COMMANDING OFFICERS. 131 

the bosom of his family, not to enjoy, as formerly, 
the sympathies and kindness of the domestic circle, 
but to meet other afflictions of a severe and trying 
kind. His tvro sons, Samuel and William, the former 
of whom was a captain in the Continental service, 
and was afterwards well known as Major Samuel 
Ashe, were confined on board a prison ship, under 
the command of Major Craig, at Wilmington, and 
had been sentenced to be shot. " The day was fixed 
for their execution, and it would have taken place if 
Major Craig had not received authentic information 
from the Whig camp that a dreadful retaliation was 
in their power, and would be the certain consequence 
of such an act of inhumanity." Concealing himself 
in the swamp and visiting his family only by stealth, 
as he was obliged to do, he was at length betrayed to 
Major Craig by a confidential servant, and a party 
of dragoons was sent to take him. In an attempt to 
escape he was shot in the leg ; and, being taken 
prisoner, he was carried to Wilmington, where he 
was treated with the consideration due to his rank. 
In addition to his other sufferings, he took the small 
pox during his confinement ; and w^as, after a time, 
paroled, but his course was run. He died in October, 
1781, at the house of Colonel John Sampson, in 
Sampson county, and when on his way to the back 
country with his family. 

The fact that so many men famed for talents and 
patriotic services, have their last days, after a life of 
honor and of usefulness, embittered by affliction or 
clouded by misfortune, is a melancholy one, and 



132 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

shows US in an impressive light the vanity of earthly 
greatness. Well might a heathen philosopher say, 
that no man should be accounted happy before his 
death ; and a higher authority teaches us that none 
but great moral principles will result in perfect peace 
and tranquility beyond the grave. 

Since every one is subject to reverses of fortune 
and to the disappointment of his earthly hopes, it is 
better perhaps that, if they must come at all, they 
should come in the evening of life when he has done 
his work and has served his generation with the full 
vigor and maturity of his powers ; but things so 
exterior and transient can make no essential or per- 
manent change in the man. Like the storms which 
pass over the earth without modifying the laws of its 
progress or even disturbing its course, the calamities 
and afflictions of a magnanimous, noble-hearted man, 
come when or how they may, can make no change in 
the elements of his greatness, nor in the moral attri- 
butes of his character ; and if these were removed, 
he would again come forth, unaltered and untrara- 
elled, the same active and generous benefactor of his 
race. Yonder sun, after running his course through 
the sky, in unclouded splendor, often goes down 
under a pall ; but, if a cloud has come between him 
and us, he is still the same unchanged, resplendent 
orb; as beneficent in his influence; as rich in all his 
inherent glory; and, in the last moments of his 
expiring radiance, seems to make the very heavens 
blush for the obscuration into which he is sinking. 
And many a man, after passing through life on an 



CHARACTER OF COMMANDING OFFICERS. 133 

elevated path, and difFasing the light of his own mind 
over the entire community to which he belonged, 
goes down to his grave shrouded in the gloom of mis- 
fortune and suffering ; yet, in all the inherent powers 
of intellect, and in all the great principles of truth 
and rectitude, which made him the light of the age, 
he remains unchanged ; and even in his last hours, 
when struggling with adversity and grappling with 
the king of terrors, you may see the last faint 
glimpses of light beyond the verge of the inter- 
vening cloud, and he seems to throw a reflected and 
softened radiance on all he is leaving behind. 

In looking back at the Revolutionary period of 
our history, it seems a very desirable thing that w^ell 
written sketches of all our most talented, patriotic 
and efficient men, in every department, should be 
prepared and published together. They would make 
a handsome volume, of convenient size, which would 
be a creditable accession to the literature of the 
State, and would be acceptable to all classes of the 
community. To their descendants it would be a 
grateful memento of departed worth, and a means 
of cherishing and perpetuating ancestral recollec- 
tions of a most interesting kind. To the young it 
would impart a greater veneration for the worthies of 
that day, and inspire them with sentiments of virtue, 
honor and patriotism. To the historian and the 
statesman it would be a work of convenient refer- 
ence ; and to all of kindred spirit, at the present 
day, it would be a source of pleasurable reminiscence 

in their meditative hours. 

12 



134 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

We do not charge their descendants, in any part 
of the country, with the want of a proper veneration 
for the memory of their heroic and noble-minded 
ancestors ; but we think that, by an impartial jury, 
they would certainly be convicted on a charge of not 
having done all that patriotism and filial respect 
demanded. There have long been, in every part of 
the State, men enough of public spirit and literary 
qualifications, who are, in every respect, competent 
to write such a work in a manner which would be 
creditable to them and useful to the country, pro- 
vided they were furnished with the materials ; and, 
from the success which has attended the few efforts 
made by the present writer, it is believed that the 
facts necessary for such a work could yet be obtained 
from the various publications already made, and from 
the letters and other documents preserved among 
their descendants. These passing remarks have been 
made with no other design than that of exciting a 
more general attention to a subject which ought to 
have an abiding interest for all who value their liber- 
ties, or revere the memory of their sires, and perhaps 
ultimately of causing something to be done, more than 
has yet been done, for the memory of the honored 
dead, and for the credit of the old North State. 

In closing this imperfect account of the Tory army 
and of the battle at Moore's creek, we should be 
chargeable with a manifest dereliction of duty, or 
with the want of a due regard to the Author of 
every good and perfect gift, " whose kingdom rules 
over all," and who does what he pleases among the 



CHARACTER OF COMMANDING OFFICERS. 135 

nations of the earth, if we did not take a distinct 
notice of the fact that an over-ruling Providence was 
quite as observable in the victory there obtained as in 
almost any other event of the Revolutionary struggle. 
The patriots of that day, at least, all the more intelli- 
gent and sober-thinking portion of them, recognized, 
in the most explicit manner, their total dependence 
on a higher power ; and there was, in North Caro- 
lina, as much importunity for his assistance, prompted 
by that feeling of dependence as in any one of the 
Old Thirteen. When success was granted, it was 
natural to acknowledge the Divine interposition ; and 
after the battle, as we have seen, a day of general 
thanksgiving was appointed for the victory. From 
all the circumstances, before and at the time of the 
engagement, every discerning and reflecting man felt 
the conviction that the battle was the Lord's, who 
" could save by many or by few," and that it behooved 
us to give him the honor due unto his name. 

When attempting to assign the causes of the tri- 
umph on this occasioa, there were so many circum- 
stances to be taken into the account, no one of which 
could be foreseen or controlled by man, and if any 
one of which had been different from what it was, the 
result would probably have been very different, that 
we are thrown back upon the will and power of Him 
who sees not as mansees^ whose counsel shall standi and 
tvho ivill do all his pleasure. If, by casualties, or any 
other cause whatever, the battle had been deferred only 
three or four days, our foreign enemies, who arrived at 
Fort Johnston about that time, could have united with 



130 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

their friends in this country and then resistance 
■would have been useless. They could have marclied 
in triumph over the state, destroying its resources 
and compelling the inhabitants to take an oath of al- 
legiance to King George as Tryon had done a few 
years before with the Regulators. If General Mc- 
Donald, when he took the most expeditious route for 
Wilmington, on the north side of the Cape Fear, had 
not been detained by opening roads, and especially 
in crossing the South river, he \vould probably have 
got so far ahead of his pursuers, that they would not 
have been able to overtake him; or, if by leaving 
their artillery behind and making forced marches, 
they had succeeded in getting between him and the 
place of his destination, it would hardly have been in 
force sufficient to resist their progress. If, at the 
commencement of the battle, some enterprising offi- 
cer. Captain Muse, for example, who commanded the 
cavalry, had found out the way of crossing the stream 
by which Lieutenant Slocum afterwards crossed, and 
had attacked the Whigs both in front and rear at the 
same time, the slaughter must have been much 
greater on both sides, and if the Whigs had been 
able to maintain their ground, as they probably 
would have done, the victory would not have been so 
complete, if it had not been equivalent to a discomfi- 
ture, nor could it have produced the same eifect on 
the community at large in rousing them up to such 
enthusiastic ardor in the cause of Independence. If 
General McDonald had been in good health and at 
the head of his army, we have no idea that he would 



CHARACTER, OF C0M?.1AND1NG OFnCERS. 137 

have rashly attempted, under all the circumstances, 
to force his way over the bridge, but would have 
taken another route and, by energetic movements, 
might have made good his escape before the patriots 
could have broken up their camp and been able to 
follow him with their whole force, or if they succeeded 
in bringing him to an engagement, it would have been 
on ground where he could have brought his whole 
army into action at once. With his superior num- 
bers and experienced officers, the contest would have 
been much more bloody ; many valuable lives would 
have been lost, and some of the ablest men in the 
country would have fallen on the field of battle. In 
that case the friends of liberty might have gained a 
victory but had little cause to triumph. 

Were all these things matters of mere chance and 
depended on no higher wisdom or power than that 
of man ? Such a sentiment would involve us in worse 
than heathenish gloom and uncertainty, subvert all 
foundation of strong and enduring confidence of suc- 
cess even in the best of causes; under reverses of for- 
tune and disappointed' hopes, it would drive us to 
despair by depriving us of all hope, or sink us into an 
anaesthetic state of all the higher and nobler powers ; 
and when prosperous, would preclude everything like 
a grateful acknowledgment of obligation to the infi- 
nite source of every blessing, which are among the 
most exalting and pleasurable emotions that we ever 
experience. It becomes every man to acknowledge 
the divine control over all human affairs, and in what- 
ever circumstances he may be placed, to act his part 
12* 



13S REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

manfully and promptly in support of those great 
moral principles wliich lies at the foundation of our 
present improvement and of our most elevated hopes 
for the future. So did the patriots at Moore's creek ; 
and we honor them even more for their moral than 
for their physical courage. We cherish their memory, 
not simply because they fought and conquered, but 
because they fought and conquered in a great and 
noble cause. We hail them as benefactors of their 
race, because at a time when the great principles of 
human freedom were not so well developed nor so 
generally understood as at the present day, and when 
they had neither learned the art of war, nor even 
heard the din of battle ; they had such a high regard 
for the rights of man and had taken such a firm grasp 
of the great principles at issue, that they could meet 
in deadly combat even their neighbors and fellow- 
citizens who were going armed to join our foreign 
oppressors and aid them in re-establishing the tyranni- 
cal power under which we had been groaning. They 
acted nobly and have an enduring claim on the grati- 
tude and veneration of all coming generations. Peace 
to their ashes, honor to their names, and eternal tri- 
umph to their principles. 



PART II. 

WHIG AND TORY OFFICERS.— COLONEL DAVID FANNING 
HIS EARLY LIFE. 

Revolutionary times not only " try men's souls," 
but test their principles and developo their character. 
When society is resolved into its original elements 
and there is no master spirit to control the perturbed 
and excited mass ; when, for the present, all law and 
government are virtually set aside, except, perhaps, 
martial law, which can neither take cognizance of all 
the cases of wrong that occur, nor reach the whole of 
a large community scattered over a widely extended 
territory ; and when every one, feeling that ^' where 
there is no law there can be no transgression," does 
as he pleases and gives full scope to his good or bad 
passions, as the one or the other may happen to be 
prevalent, a man may become as much distinguished 
by his vices as by his virtues, — by a course of rapine, 
murder, and atrocious villanies, as by the wisdom of 
his counsels wherever they may be needed, or by his 
deeds of valor on the field of battle. In the war of 
the Revolution in this country, which resulted in the 
unprecedented freedom and prosperity which we enjoy, 
the patriots of that day, who toiled and suffered and 
shed their blood in the cause of independence, in- 



14:0 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

scribed their names indelibly on the rolls of fame ; 
and, while the world stands, will command the venera- 
tion and gratitude of mankind; but there were others 
who were then about as conspicuous, and who, bj an 
opposite course, have rendered their names quite as 
immortal. 

Of this latter class, some of whom were to be found 
in every State of the confederacy, Col. David Fan- 
ning stood pre-eminent in North Carolina ; but when 
we consider his origin and his early life, we cannot 
be so much surprised at his after course. With a 
native intellect which, under proper culture, would 
have made him prominent anywhere or in any cause, 
his powers w^ere developed under the influence of 
poverty, disease and neglect, without early instruc- 
tio'n or example, and without any moral or religious 
training. Regarded, it seems, wherever known, as 
an outcast from genteel society, he never received 
any favors, or had any kind attentions paid him 
except from pity on account of his forlorn condition. 
Under these circumstances, those strong feelings 
which usually accompany a vigorous intellect, instead 
of being softened and directed into the proper chan- 
nel by the hallowing influences of religion, or even by 
the courtesies and bland influences of intelligent and 
refined society, were embittered and strengthened for 
evil by the ungracious treatment which he received, 
and afterwards, by impelling him to the commission 
of crimes which spread sorrow and distress over the 
country, gave him a most unenviable notoriety, and 
made his name, not only from that time to the present, 



COL. DAVID FANNING. 141 

but for generations to come, a reproach and a L}^- 
word of infamy. 

In the University Magazine, for March, 1853, 
there is an interesting communication from Governor 
Swain, in which he gives the following summary 
account of Tanning's birth-place, his early life, and 
his entrance on his military career. " David Fan- 
ning was born of obscure parents, in the county of 
\Yake, about the year 1754, and apprenticed to a 
carpenter or loom maker. He removed to Chatham 
in 1778, and followed his trade until the occupation 
of Wilmington, by Major Craig, presented other 
prospects to his imagination. Very shortly there- 
after, clad in a long white hunting shirt, and mounted 
on a common draft horse, he was found at the head 
of a band of marauders, not more than eight or ten 
in number. His head-quarters were, to some extent, 
at the house of John Reins on Brush creek ; but he 
had no horse, seldom lodged in a house, generally 
passed his nights in solitary and unfrequented places, 
sometimes with companions, but more frequently 
alone. He and his colleagues were spoken of as "out 
liers." His first marauding expedition is said to 
have been to Deep river ; and the earliest sufferers 
from his rapacity and violence, w^ere Charles Shear- 
ing, and Captains Duck and Dye. He went to 
Shearings in the night, shot him as he ran from the 
house, took his gun, scoured the neighborhood and 
returned to Reins'. His energy, capacity, and cour- 
age were duly appreciated by Major Craig, who 
appointed him Colonel of the loyal militia of Ran- 



142 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

dolph and Chatham, clothed him in British uniform 
and presented him a sword and holster of pistols. 
An old royalist, named Lindly, gave him a mare 
called the "Red Doe," from her peculiar color. This 
animal, whose blood is still traced and highly esti- 
mated at the present day, became subsequently 
almost as famous as her master. One of the most 
interesting episodes in Fanning's history relates to 
the circumstances under which he lost her." 

We have given the above extract entire, partly 
because the well known accuracy of the writer in 
every thing that relates to North Carolina history, 
entitles it to high consideration, and partly because 
it brings before us in a small space the leading events 
of Fanning's early life. It differs considerably, how- 
ever, in some particulars, from the accounts which I 
had previously obtained from other sources ; but on 
a subject, for the knowledge of which we have all to 
rely, for the most part, on traditionary statements, 
some discrepancies, at least in circumstances of minor 
importance, are to be expected ; and we shall just 
state such facts, in the course of the narrative, as 
rest on the authority of those whose opportunities for 
ascertaining the truth were good, and who had made 
it their business to investigate the subject. 

Several of the following pages are taken, in sub- 
stance, from the papers of Mr. McBride ; but as 
those papers consisted chiefly of very short notes, 
something like a lawyer's "brief," I have not used 
the quotation marks. As he collected his materials 
some twenty- five years ago, more or less, he must 



COL. DAVID FANNING. 143 

have had, at that time, great facilities for ascertain- 
ing the truth ; and from his habits of legal investi- 
gation we might expect that his inquiries on this 
subject would be conducted with something of the 
same precision. It is to be regretted that so many of 
his papers were lost; but I imagine that most of 
what related to the birth-place of Fanning and to 
his history until he became a British officer, has been 
preserved ; and although no one could write off these 
notes as he would have done himself, since he could 
have supplied much from memory and from further 
inquiries as he progessed, yet we feel gratified that 
we have so many of the main facts. He tells us 
that he got his information from James Johnson, a 
man whom he considered as good authority ; and 
therefore it would seem that his statements ought to 
be regarded as altogether reliable. Johnson was 
the nephew of John O'Deniell, with whom Fanning, 
when a mere youth, lived for two or three years; and, 
of course, he had a good opportunity of becoming 
acquainted with his history. He told McBride that, 
although he was only eight or nine years old when 
Fanning came into his uncle's family, he had a dis- 
tinct recollection of him, — his appearance, condition 
and deportment; that he was at his uncle's house 
most of the time that Fanning was there ; and that 
he had often heard the facts related afterwards by 
his uncle, who was still living at the time when he 
gave Mr. McBride this information. 

Without assuming any further responsibility than 
to give the facts thus obtained, and to inform the 



144 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

reader of the source wlience they were derived, we 
proceed with the narrative. According to these 
papers, David Fanning was born in Johnson County, 
then a part of Wake, in the year 1756 or 1757, and 
of low parentage. When a boy, he was bound to a 
Mr. Bryant, of that County, from whom he ran away 
when he was about sixteen or seventeen years of age ; 
and after wandering over the country for some time 
on foot, he came to the house of John O'Deniell, who 
lived in Orange County, a little below the Hawfield 
settlement. Fanning stated to Mr. O'Deniell, as his 
reason for leaving his master, that he had treated 
him with great severity and neglect, making him live 
in the woods to take care of his cattle, and without 
comfortable food or clothing. O'Deniell took him in, 
merely from feelings of compassion ; for he was a 
miserable object, being almost naked, and what 
clothes he had on were ragged and dirty. 

He had also the scald head, or tetter worm, which 
had been neglected, until it had taken the hair all 
off his head, except perhaps a very little low down 
about the neck, which had to be cut off; and the 
smell was so offensive that he never eat at the table 
with the family and never slept in a bed. In fact, 
he seemed to be so conscious of this himself that he 
was unwilling, even if he had been permitted, either 
to eat or sleep with other people until he could get 
better clothing and be cured of his disease. By the 
kind attentions of Mrs. O'Deniell and the family, he 
was cured of the tetter, but having lost his hair, he 
always wore a silk cap on his head under his hat ; 



COL. DAVID FANNING. 145 

and, it is said, that his most intimate friends never 
saw his head bare. While here, he learned to read 
and write a little, and this opened to him sources of 
information and furnished him with a medium of com- 
munication without which he never could have pur- 
sued a course so reproachful to himself and so calami- 
tous to the country. He seemed to be very grateful 
to O'Deniell and the family for the kindness which 
they had shown him. He conducted himself, while 
there, with as much propriety as could be expected ; 
and he often spoke of them in after life with great 
respect. While living there, he may have worked at 
his trade of building houses or making looms, as 
Governor Swain has stated ; but he is said to have 
been famous for his skill and dexterity in breaking or 
taming wild horses, which nobody else could manage. 
Stout of his age, and being afraid of nothing, he 
could, in a little time, subdue the most fractious and 
unmanageable horse that came in his way. 

In the course of two or three years, when he was 
about nineteen, more or less, he went into South 
Carolina, and got in with William O'Deniell, a bro- 
ther, I presume, or near relative of his former bene- 
factor, who lived on the Pedee, in South Carolina, 
and near the north line. There he commenced In- 
dian trader, and was carrying on a gainful traffic with 
the Catawba Indians, by exchanging guns, calicoes, 
beads and such articles as suited their fancy, for their 
furs and deerskins, which he carried on pack horses 
to the sea port towns, and sold them for a very hand- 
some profit ; but he had not more than fairly embarked 
13 



146 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

in this gainful business, when the difficulties with 
Enghmd commenced. At first he declared himself 
a Whig ; but on his return from one of his trading 
expeditions, he was met by a little party of lawless 
fellows, who called themselves Whigs, and robbed 
him of every thing he had. Without waiting to 
inquire whether they really belonged to the Whig 
party or were a mere set of desperadoes, having no 
settled principles, and with no object but plunder, he 
at once changed sides ; and in the impetuosity and 
violence of his temper swore vengeance on the whole 
of the Whig party. 

From his subsequent history, it appears that he 
kept his word, or his oath, with the most rigid 
fidelity; for, whenever and wherever an opportunity 
occurred, his vindictive spirit was gratified to the 
full extent of his power ; and henceforth we find him 
engaged, with unremitting ardor in destroying the 
lives and property of his enemies. He then joined 
the Tories on the Pedee ; and, it is said, that he was, 
for some time associated with the famous Colonel 
McGirth. As they seem to have been kindred 
spirits, and to have resembled each other very much 
in some of the most important events of their life, 
we copy, for the gratification of our readers, the 
following account of McGirth, from Johnson's Tradi- 
tions and Reminiscences of the war in the South: — 

" Daniel McGirth was a respectable young man, a 
native of Kirshaw District, nearly related to the 
Canteys of that neighborhood. He had married a 
very amiable lady of Sumter District, aunt of the 



COL. DAVID FANNING. 147 

late much respected Matthew James, Esq. McGirth, 
from his early attachments and associates, joined 
with his father and relatives cordially in opposition 
to the claims of the British government. Being a 
practised hunter and excellent rider, he was well 
acquainted with the woods and roads and paths in 
that extensive range of country, extending from 
Santee river to the Catawba nation on the east of 
Wateree river. He was highly valuable to the 
Americans for the facility with which he acquired 
information of the enemy, and for the accuracy and 
minuteness with which he communicated what he had 
obtained. He had brought with him into the service 
a favorite mare, his own property, an elegant animal, 
on which he felt safe from pursuit, when engaged in 
the dangerous but important duties of a scout; he 
called her the Grey Goose. This fine mare was 
coveted by one of the American officers, at Satilla, 
in Georgia, who tried various means to obtain posses- 
sion of her, all of which were opposed by McGirth, 
chiefly on the ground that she was essentially neces- 
sary to the American interest, in the duties performed 
by him ; and without her he could no longer engage 
in them. The officer continuing urgent, McGirth 
said or did something to get rid of him, which he 
might have intended only as a personal rebuff, but 
probably was much more. He was arrested, tried by 
a court martial, found guilty of violating the rules 
and articles of war, and sentenced to the public 
whipping-post, for a breach of subordination, which 
could not be overlooked in an army. He suffered the 



148 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

wliipping and exposure, and was again committed to 
prison, Avaiting to receive another whipping accord- 
ing to his sentence. While thus situated, he saw 
his favorite mare, observed where she was picketed, 
and immediately began to concert measures for his 
escape, and the repossession of his mare. He suc- 
ceeded in both, and, when seated on her back, he 
turned deliberately round, notwithstanding the alarm 
at his escape, and denounced vengeance against all 
the Americans, for his ill-treatment. He executed 
his threats most fully, most fearfully, most vindic- 
tively. Indulging this savage, vindictive temper, 
was indeed productive of great injury to the Ameri- 
can cause, and of much public and private suffering, 
but it Avas also the cause of his own ruin and misery. 
When the State w^as again recovered by the Ameri- 
can army, he still kept in the woods, retreated into 
Georgia, and thence into Florida. When Florida 
was reconveyed to the Spaniards, by the treaty of 
peace, he became subject to their laws or suspicions, 
was arrested, and confined by them five years in one 
of their damp dungeons in the Castle of St. Augus- 
tine, where his health was totally destroyed. When 
discharged from St. Augustine, he with much difficulty 
returned to his wife in Sumter District. McGirth's 
father was a captain in the South Carolina militia 
at the time of his son's defection, but continued 
firmly and devotedly attached to the interests of his 
country." 

How long Fanning continued with McGirth, and 
in what deeds of atrocity he was engaged, we have no 



COL. DAVID FANNING. 149 

means of ascertaining; but from his connection with 
one who was not only his equal, if no more, in native 
capacity and energy of character, but greatly his 
superior in education and in his knowledge of the 
ways and means of doing harm in such a country 
and in such a state of things as then existed, we may 
suppose that he was much better prepared than he 
would otherwise have been for the course which he 
subsequently pursued. It was probably the best 
school for developing and maturing the original 
elements of his character that he could have found ; 
and, judging from his achievements in this State, not 
long after, we may infer that he must have made 
uncommon proficiency. According to McBride's 
papers and most other accounts which I have had, 
he is not known to have been in North Carolina 
from the beginning of the war, or a little before it, 
until the beginning of the year 1781, when he came 
into the State along with the British army under 
Lord Cornwallis, or about the same time ; but he did 
not continue with it; nor did he, for some time, hold 
any commission or have any men properly under his 
command. 

From his natural temper, and from his early habits, 
he was a sui Juris kind of a man, and neither knew 
nor cared much about the military rules and tactics 
of modern warfare. He could not be subjected to 
the strictness of military discipline, nor was he cal- 
culated for the slow and measured movements of 
regular armies. His irascible and vindictive temper 

could not endure the custom of civilized nations in 
13* 



150 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

showing humanity to the conquered, and in giving 
protection to the feeble. He gloried not in success, 
because he believed it to be necessary to the welfare 
of his country, nor in the triumph of valor on the 
field of honorable contest, but in the capture and 
extermination of his enemies. A stranger to that 
manly courage which is sustained and guided by 
great moral principles, he was just fitted for the 
course which he pursued, the guerilla mode of war- 
fare, in which there have been few in modern times 
who have surpassed him, either in the rapidity of his 
movements, or in the number and atrocity of his 
deeds. With the astuteness of the Indian and the 
fleetness of the Arab, with a constitution capable of 
bearing almost any amount of toil ; and with a patience 
of hunger and fatigue worthy of any cause, he might 
be said to be always on horseback and always in mo- 
tion. He was often upon his enemies when they were 
least expecting it; and, having accomplished his pur- 
pose of death or devastation, he was gone before their 
friends could rally. Often, when supposed to be at 
a distance, the alarm of his presence in a neighbor- 
hood was communicated by the smoke of burning 
houses, and by the cries of frightened and flying 
women and children. 

In the communication to the University Magazine, 
already noticed. Governor Swain says, that *' he re- 
moved to Chatham in 1778, and followed his trade 
until the occupation of Wilmington, by Major Craig, 
presented other prospects to his imagination," but 
takes no notice of his going into South Carolina, and 



COL. DAVID FANNING. 151 

was probably not aware of the fact. There is how- 
ever no real contradiction or discrepancy between 
his statement and the one which I have made on the 
authority of McBride's papers ; for Fanning may 
have returned to Chatham sooner than was known 
to McBride or his correspondents, and may have 
worked at his trade for a short time ; but, after 
having been with McGirth in South Carolina, and 
engaged in the bold and vindictive operations of that 
adventurous spirit, it is^ not probable that he would 
again engage unless from necessity or considerations 
of policy, in the dull business of building houses or 
making looms, so uncongenial to his nature, so foreign 
from his settled purposes, and so much below the 
ambitious aspirings which had now got the ascen- 
dency in his mind. 

So far as my enquiries had gone, I could find no 
intimation of his being in North Carolina, after the 
beginning of the war, until February 25th, 1781, 
when he was at Pyle's famous "hacking match," on 
that memorable day, but held no commission, and of 
course from the peculiar circumstances of that whole 
affair he could take no part, unless he had stood in 
the ranks and submitted like the rest to be hacked 
into pieces, which was not according to his taste, and 
he was not to be caught in such a trap. When 
Colonel Lee, at the head of his Legion, was riding 
along the line of deluded Tories, who had been drawn 
up for the purpose of receiving Colonel Tarleton, as 
they supposed, and were shouting " hurra for King 
George," Fanning called out to them repeatedly that 



152 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

those men were the American cavalry, and not the 
British ; but, as General Green, with his whole army, 
had been run out of the State only a few days before, 
and as the British army, apparently exulting in its 
power, was so near, they could not believe that an 
American corps would dare to show itself almost in 
sight of Lord Cornwallis, and warnings were in vain. 
When he saw that his efforts to undeceive them were 
of no avail, he withdrew to a place of safety where 
he could see the commencement of the havoc made 
on his friends ; but as soon as he saw that their 
destruction was inevitable, he prudently fled and 
took care for his own safety. If, on 'that day, so 
fatal to the Tories and so auspicious to the cause of 
American freedom, the command had devolved on 
Fanning instead of Colonel Pyle, the result would 
probably have been very different ; but an all-wise 
Providence ordered otherwise, and we have reason to 
to rejoice in this development of his benignant and 
unchanging purposes. 

A crisis was now approaching in the long and 
arduous struggle for independence. Throughout the 
State, all intelligent and reflecting men, on both 
sides, were expecting and desiring a general battle, 
which it was believed would either give the British 
forces a complete ascendency in the South, or turn 
the tide so much against them that further efi'orts on 
their part would be useless. The discomfiture of the 
Tories, under Colonel Pyle, may be regarded as a 
fortunate prelude to the battle which was fought a 
few days after near Martinville, at which we presume 



COL. DAVID FANNING. 153 

Colonel Fanning was present. The probability is 
that, after Pyle's defeat, he either fell in with the 
British army until after the battle, or "mounted on 
a common draft-horse," and attended by a few fol- 
lowers, daring and reckless spirits like himself, he 
was ranging through the country plundering provi- 
sions for his foreign friends, giving them whatever 
information he could obtain, and producing terror 
and distress among the inhabitants. While the 
British lay in Hillsborough, according to tradition, 
he committed a number of depredations and cruel- 
ties in the northwest part of the county, but of all 
that we have no certain information. 

Whether he was at the Guilford battle or not is a 
matter of little consequence. It is known that soon 
after, and for some time, he had his residence on or 
near Deep river, and about the mouths of Brush and 
Richland creeks, where, remaining for a few weeks in 
cog, he took up his lodgings sometimes under the 
open canopy of heaven, but oftener in the humble 
dwelling of John Rains, who afterwards became a 
major in his corps, and one of his most efficient men. 
W^hy he never appeared in public nor made himself 
known, would be useless to enquire. Whether he 
was only maturing his plans for future operations, or 
was waiting for a commission from British authority, 
without which he could not act so efficiently, for which 
the initiatory steps had, no doubt, been taken, was 
probably known only to himself, or at most one or 
two others. If he entered upon his career without 
a commission he must have had assurance that he 



154 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

might expect one in case he proved his loyalty to the 
king, and his fitness for command. I had under- 
stood, many years ago, that, though he did not 
receive a formal commission, he got ample encour- 
agement from Lord Cornwallis himself; and, as he 
had probably given his lordship, some evidence of 
his valor and of his devotion to the royal cause, 
either at Clapp's mill or at Martinville ; on the 
strength of this encouragement he commenced opera- 
tions. 

According to the recollections of the old people in 
that region, at the time when Mr. McBride obtained 
his information, his first appearance in public was at 
a church or meeting house, where the people had met 
on the Sabbath for public worship, and his success 
was as great, perhaps, as he could have expected. 
He either did not arrive until about the close of the 
services, or he had kept out of view ; but when the 
people came out of the house, he was the first object 
that attracted their attention. Being an entire 
stranger, and somewhat singular in his appearance, 
every eye was fixed upon him, and they were all 
enquiring, one of another, who was that stranger. 
He had no doubt been well informed, before he came, 
respecting the character and sentiments of the people 
there, and knew that he was among friends ; for he 
appeared to be perfectly at his ease. Probably he 
had been, for sometime, exerting an influence through 
the agency of his friend Rains, and finding that 
things were ready for the disclosure of his purposes, 
he had boldly taken this step. At all events he did 



COL. DAVID FANNING. 155 

not keep them long in suspense, for he soon let them 
know that his name was Fanning, and that he had 
been authorized bj the king to raise as many men as 
he could for the purpose of aiding his majesty to 
suppress the rebellion and to maintain his govern- 
ment. A man of strong intellect and of great 
apparent confidence in the justness and success of 
the cause in which he is engaged, hardly ever fails to 
sway the minds of the multitude ; and so it was on 
the present occasion. 

By discanting, with an air of confidence and much 
earnestness, on the irresistible progress of the British 
arms, and the immense resources of that nation, the 
cruelties of the Whig companies which came into that 
region, and the injustice of the confiscations to which 
the property of the loyalists had been subjected, 
the hopelessness of the American cause, and the 
pitiable condition of the American forces, half naked, 
half starved and utterly dispirited by defeat, he so 
worked upon their fears or strengthened their pre- 
possessions that a number joined him on the spot, and 
this number was gradually increased as he continued 
his exertions and became more known over the 
country. All congenial spirits, — men who, like him- 
self, delighted in bold adventure and deeds of cruelty, 
rallied round his standard without any hesitation, 
while the idle and dissolute, who were impatient of the 
restraints imposed by wholesome laws rigidlyenforced, 
and who would rather live by stealth and rapine than 
in the way of an honorable industry, were easily 
induced to follow his fortunes. 



156 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

We shall not undertake to write his biography, nor 
to give in full tale his deeds of robbery, devastation 
and wanton barbarity. To do that would require a 
volume of ampler size, and an abler pen than mine. 
The time, during which his operations were carried 
on, was short, only about eighteen months, more or 
less ; but his plans were executed, and his deeds of 
shame and cruelty were often perpetrated faster than 
the pen of a ready writer could record them. You 
might as well undertake to describe, for the same 
length of time, all the movements of as many flying 
Scythians, or the atrocities of as many Saracens, 
when borne along by the swelling tide of religious 
enthusiasm, and in the full career of triumphant suc- 
cess. We certainly take no pleasure in portraying 
his character or describing his progress. We would 
much rather throw his name, with all its painful 
associations, into the dark stream of Lethe, and let 
it sink to rise no more ; but it seems right that we 
should make a fair estimate of the price which our 
liberties cost, as well as of the blessings which they 
have conferred ; and to make such an estimate, it is 
necessary to have something like a full length por- 
trait, not only of the patriots who fought and 
conquered, but of the men with whose prowess, 
malignity and cunning they had to contend. If we 
would cherish a proper regard for the memory of our 
fathers and mothers of that period, who have be- 
queathed to us an inheritance so invaluable, we must 
have before us the sacrifices which they made, the 
perils which they encountered, and the toils and 



COL. DAVID FANNING. 157 

hardships which they endured. Fanning inflicted 
more injury on the country, and was more dreaded at 
the time than any other man, and many of his crimes 
and deeds of violence would live in the traditions of 
the people, from age to age, while our institutions 
endure, though they were never to stain the pages of 
history. 

A few of these, briefly related, may give the 
reader some idea of the course which he pursued, 
and may serve as specimens of a long series, con- 
tinued without interruption to the end of the chapter, 
and unsoftened by any prominent or important acts 
of an opposite kind. 



HIS FIRST EFFORTS IN THE ROYAL CAUSE. 

Some time in the spring of 1781, and near the 
commencement of his career as the champion of 
royalty, he had rather an extraordinary afiair with 
one Charles Sherring, a man who was as daring in 
his courage and as implacable in his temper as him- 
self. The date of this afi'air is not known ; but it 
was probably before his descent upon Pittsboro', and 
yet he must have become an object of some attention, 
for threats had passed upon both sides, which would 
hardly have been the case if he had not become 
known and formidable. He seems to have been 
remarkable for the correctness of his information re- 
specting every man and every road and locality within 
14 



158 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

the range of his operations, so that he generally 
knew, before he set out on an expedition, just when 
to go, what amount of force to take with him, and 
every thing necessary to success ; but if, at any 
time he was misinformed or mistaken in his calcula- 
tions, he was very fertile in expedients and very 
prompt to avail himself of any advantage that might 
be derived from circumstances. The account of this 
attack on Sherring, when written out from the abbre- 
viated notes among McBride's papers, is substantially 
as follows : 

As he made it a point to kill every active and 
resolute Whig that he could get in his power, he had 
determined to kill Sherring ; and for this purpose he 
went to his house in the night ; but having ascer- 
tained beforehand that he was alone and unguarded, 
he took no one with him. Sherring either having 
been apprised of his design, or, from the desperate 
character of the man and the threats which had been 
made, being well aware of his danger, was so cautious 
as not to sleep in the house with his family, but in a 
little out house, which stood a few steps from the 
dwelling, and had been used for a corn crib. It was 
made of small pine logs with the bark peeled off, and 
floored with a kind of hewn slabs, which were called 
^' puncheons." The night was dark, or at least, 
there was no moon-light ; but the logs were not close 
together, and an outsider could look into the inside. 
As the weather was warm and pleasant, he had lain 
down in the bottom of the crib, with some thin 
covering over him and without telling his wife or any 



COL. DAVID FANNING. 159 

body else where he had gone. On searching the 
house he found that he was not there, and he could 
get no information of his whereabouts ; but relying 
on the information given him, he concluded that he 
must be on the premises and he was intent on finding 
him out. For this purpose he extinguished the lights 
and sallied out in the dark ; but he could find nothing 
of him in the stable or any of the places where he 
thought he might probably be concealed. 

It then occurred to him that he might be in the 
corn crib ; and peeping through the crevices between 
the logs, dark as the night was, he descried some- 
thing lying on the bottom, which, from the shape, he 
concluded must be a man, and he fancied he could 
tell which end was the head. With this impression, 
after looking steadily for some time to be certain, if 
he could, he put his rifle between the logs and fired. 
The ball passed through, between the wind-pipe and 
the neck bone of Sherring ; but he was not killed. 
Though so badly wounded and though he had his rifle 
in his hand, he neither moved nor made the least 
noise. The pain must have been intense ; but he 
had sense enough and self command enough to lie as 
still as if he had been a log of wood, and Fanning 
made no attempt to ascertain the eff'ect of his shot ; 
whether he concluded that he had been mistaken in 
the object, or that he had accomplished his purpose, 
and was therefore satisfied, or that the report of the 
gun might alarm the neighbors and bring them in 
upon him before he could get away, was never known. 
He was, however, so cautious and wary, that he did 



160 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

not even look into the crib ; but immediately left the 
premises, without waiting to find out whether he had 
shot a man or a bag of potatoes. 

As soon as he thought Fanning had time to get 
off the plantation, Sherring, though so badly wounded, 
thought it neither safe nor prudent to remain there ; 
and setting off forthwith, without waiting to have his 
wound dressed or even to go into his house, he went 
eight miles, to Cornelius Tyson's, where he got his 
wounds dressed and he recovered in a short time. 
The impression of the people in the neighborhood 
seems to have been that Fanning really believed he 
had killed Sherring and that his great caution was 
the reason of his leaving in such haste. Few nights 
now passed for several months in which he did not 
leave his mark somewhere. No Whig and no avowed 
friend to the cause of Independence could feel safe 
in his house for a single night, if within the reach of 
this scourge of humanity ; and no one, however 
diligent in seeking information and however shrewd 
at guessing, could possibly tell beforehand, with any 
sort of probability, when or where he would strike, 
nor in what direction they might hope to find a refuge. 



COL. DAVID FANNING. 161 



CAPTURE OF THE COURT IN PITTSBORO'— AND HIS COM- 
MISSION AS COLONEL BY MAJOR CRAIG. 

His next move, of which we have any definite in- 
formation, was one of a much bolder and more impor- 
tant character. Having got some thirty or forty men 
who acknowledged him as their leader, he dashed 
into Pittsboro' when the county court was in session, 
July 15th, 1781, and captured the lawyers, justices 
and other officers of the court, with such of the citi- 
zens and prominent men in the place as he wanted. 
Having been thus successful to the full extent of his 
wishes, he swore the rebels should never hold court 
there again ; and then, without sustaining any loss or 
meeting with any resistance, he made good his retreat 
with the whole of his prisoners. Wheeler, in his his- 
tory of North Carolina, which is a work of consider- 
able interest and importance, says that the court 
which Fanning broke up, was a court martial ; but I 
had always understood that it was the county court ; 
and I see that it is so stated by Governor Swain, in 
his communication to the University Magazine. Un- 
fortunately the records of both the county and supe- 
rior courts of Chatham were destroyed by fire and no 
authentic information can now be obtained from that 
source. We have, therefore, nothing to rely upon in 
relation to this important transaction except tradi- 
tion ; and those traditionary accounts which were first 
committed to writing, are probably the most reliable. 
14* 



162 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

At this time, it appears that Fanning had no 
horse, or none that was at all fit for the business in 
"which he was engaged ; and as his success in attack 
or his safety in flight would often depend upon the 
fleetness of the animal which he rode, it was felt to 
be a matter of vital importance that he should be 
better mounted. In the University Magazine, Go- 
vernor Swain says, on the authority, it seems, of 
Judge Murphy, who did not at all times observe the 
same precision and accuracy which were necessary in 
legal investigations, that "an old loyalist, named 
Lindly, gave him a mare called the " Red Doe," 
from her peculiar color ;" but he was evidently mis- 
taken in the name of the mare and probably in the 
name also of the donor. The verbal account which I 
received of this matter, a number of years ago, was, 
in substance, as follows : 

Feeling much elated with the success of his recent 
enterprise, and having his mind filled with the pros- 
pect of still greater achievements, he began immedi- 
ately to devise ways and means for getting himself 
better equipped. For this purpose, he went to a gen- 
tleman, a friend or an acquaintance, by the name of 
Bell, who was a loyalist, and very independent in his 
circumstances. After giving him an account of his 
exploit in Pittsboro', and a sketch of his plans for 
future operations, he said to him, " Now, Bell, you 
are a friend to King George, and the best thing you 
can do for him is to furnish me with a horse ; for I 
have none, and am not able to buy. Bell replied that 
he had none to spare, or none suitable for that pur- 



COL. DAVID FANNING. 163 

pose ; but that there had been, for two or three days, 
a stray filly on his premises; and he would freely 
give him all his right and title to her, if she would 
do him any good. 

The filly was without any marks of ownership, or 
any indications of having been used, and was withal 
very poor; but she was, for the present, his only 
chance, and he took her. After putting her in some 
better order, and giving her a little training, she 
proved to be the fleetest animal in the whole country. 
He called her the " Bay Doe," — bay from her color, 
and doe from her fleetness ; and when on her back, 
whether he had to attack or flee, he felt perfectly safe. 
In a short time he got a horse, — whether by rapine or 
by donation, from his friend Lindly is not known, — 
which was also very fleet, but not equal to the mare. 
He called him the "Red Buck;" and in a little time 
the fame of the " Red Buck" and the "Bay Doe" was 
nearly co-extensive with that of Fanning himself. 
Precisely, when or where he got either of these ani- 
mals, is a matter of little consequence, but with him 
it was all-important that he should get his prisoners 
safely delivered to the British authorities at Wilming- 
ton. For this purpose he lost no time ; but took care 
to avoid such routes as would probably expose him to 
an attack of the Whigs. The following account of 
his progress to and from Wilmington, together with 
some of his subsequent transactions and several let- 
ters, we take from the University Magazine, already 
referred to, because it is more authentic and satisfac- 
tory than any other, and probably contains all the 



1C4 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

information that can now be got of his doings at that 
early stage of his progress. 

Leaving Pittsboro' immediately, he went that even- 
ing ^' to the west side of Deep river, at Beck's, now 
called Coxe's Ford; and encamped for the night. On 
the next day, having received a reinforcement of fif- 
teen men, he set out with his prisoners, forty-four in 
number, for Wilmington. Of the prisoners, three, 
John Williams, (London, Esquire, attorney at law,) 
Gen. Ambrose Ramsey, and Col. Griffiths, were per- 
mitted to ride, he taking their word of honor not to 
desert him." 

On that evening they reached ten miles and en- 
camped. On the second night, Stephen Lewis and 
John Short, two of the Tories, deserted. They tra- 
velled by ways, and through the woods to McFall's 
Mill, on the waters of the Raft Swamp, and before 
passing the swamp, two of the prisoners, Thomas Scur- 
lock and Capt. James Hardin, who Fanning feared 
would attempt to escape, were handcuffed, and so con- 
tinued to Wilmington. On the other side of the swamp 
they met Col. McNeill, with one hundred and fifty 
men, returning from Wilmington. They continued 
their route on the west side of the river, and en- 
camped opposite to Wilmington. 

Gen. Ramsey, John Williams, Esq, and Col. Grif- 
fiths, who were on their parole of honor, were attended 
only by one man, Michael Pearson, and rode either 
before or behind the party as they pleased. At Wil- 
mington they were paroled by Major Craig and re- 



COL. DAVID FANNINa. 165 

turned. Thomas Scurlock died, and the other priso- 
ners were sent by Major Craig to Charleston. 

The following letter written by the prisoners when 
on their way to Wilmington, and addressed to Gov. 
Burke, will be interesting to the reader, and there- 
fore we make no apology for its insertion. We copy 
from the University Magazine. 



George H. Ramsey and others, to Gov. Burke. 

Camp at McFalVs Mill, 

Raft Swamp, July 22d, 1781. 
On Tuesday last we were captured at Chatham 
Court-house by a party under the command of Col. 
David Fanning, which party, we found, consisted of 
persons who complained of the greatest cruelties 
either to their persons or property. Some had been 
unlawfully drafted, others had been whipped and ill- 
treated without trial, others had their houses burned 
and all their property plundered, and barbarous and 
cruel murders had been committed in their neighbor- 
hoods. The officers they complained of, are Major 
Naul, Capt. Robeson, of Bladen, Capt. Crump, Col. 
Wade and Phill Alston, The latter, a day or two 
ago, a few miles in our rear, took a man on the road 
and put him to death, which has much incensed the 
Highlanders in this part of the country. A Scotch 
gentlemen, the same day, was taken at one McAffie's 
Mill, and ill-treated. He is said to be a peaceable 
and inoffensive man. His name we do not know. 



166 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

He lives on tlie Raft Swamp — should be happy if he 
could be liberated. Notwithstanding the cruel treat- 
ment these people have received, we have been treated 
with the greatest civility and with the utmost respect 
and politeness by our commanding officer, Colonel 
Fanning, to whom we are under the greatest obliga- 
tions ; and we beg leave to inform your Excellency 
that unless an immediate stop is put to such inhuman 
practices, we plainly discover the whole country will 
be deluged in blood and the innocent w^ill suffer for 
the guilty. We well know your abhorrence of such 
inhuman conduct and your steady intention to pre- 
vent it. All we mean is information. We expect to 
be delivered to Major Craig, at Wilmington, in two 
or three days, entirely destitute of money and clothes. 
How long we shall remain so, God only knows. All 
we have to ask is, that the perpetrators of such hor- 
rid deeds may be brought to trial, that prisoners may 
be well-treated in future. 
And we are 

Your Excellency's 

Most obedient servants. 



This letter was signed by Geo. Herndon Ramsey, 
Joseph Herndon, Math. Ramsey, W. Kinchen, James 
Herndon, Thos. Gregory, John Dir Song, James 
Williams and Thos. Sensbork; and Simon Ferrel 
was paroled to carry it to the Governor and return 
to Wilmington. Some of our readers may be a little 
surprised to find these prisoners speaking so favora- 



COL. DAVID FANNING. 167 

bly of Col. Fanning and of the Tories generally, in 
that region ; but it is probable that, in this case, they 
were not allowed to communicate the whole truth nor 
to make a very frank expression of their feelings. 
We presume that Fanning would not suffer them to 
write at all unless he knew the contents of the letter, 
nor to send it if he found that it contained any state- 
ments of which he disapproved. 

Under the circumstances, Fanning would have 
acted unwisely for himself if he had permitted them 
to say just what they pleased ; and being thus re- 
stricted, they no doubt thought it was for their inte- 
rest to compliment him and curry favor with him, so 
far as they could, without compromising their honor 
or their principles. Fanning, too, must have been 
pleased with the statements made, for they were just 
such facts as he wished to have announced to the 
Governor, and if he had not been pleased with it he 
would not have paroled one of their number solely for 
the purpose of being the bearer ; but there is an ex- 
pression in a letter which one of them wrote to the 
Governor after his return, which seems to imply the 
same thing. James Williams was paroled by Major 
Craig in August ; and when he returned he addressed 
to Governor Burke the following letter, which, in the 
dearth of authentic information, we are glad to get, 
and which we insert, not only as connected with the 
preceding, but as throwing some additional light on 
the state of things at that period. 



108 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

James Williams to Governor Burke. 

Chatham^ 22d August, 1781. 

Sir : — I returned yesterday from Wilmington on 
my parole to Chatham County, which prevents my 
waiting upon your excellency in person. 

I am desired by the prisoners to acknowledge the 
receipt of yours by the flag, and to thank you for 
your promised attention to them. Their case really 
merits it. Every article to be sold in Wilmington is 
at least three times as high for hard money as usual. 
It cost me in three weeks there, for board and some 
few articles of clothing, X32 sterling, for which I am 
indebted, as they all are, more or less. They desire 
me to solicit you for a passport for as much tobacco, 
or any other article, as will discharge the debts. If 
this should fail, they will be in a very disagreeable 
situation — their credit will stop and they must inevi- 
tably suffer. 

I am told your Excellency understood our. letter 
from McFalVs Mill, Raft Swamp. We were very 
unhappy there. There has been no news in Wilming- 
ton, either by land or water, these six weeks. I 
brought up two or three of their newspapers, but they 
are so barren they are not worth enclosing. We 
hope to be exchanged for shortly. 

I am your Excellency's 

Most obedient servant, 

James Williams. 

To his Excellency Thomas Burke, 



COL. DAVID FANNING. 169 

After asking the reader to notice the words which 
we have made emphatical for the purpose of calling 
attention to them, in reference to the preceding let- 
ter, we will give the reply of Gov. Burke to the let- 
ter which the prisoners wrote to him from McFall's 
Mill, not because it has any direct bearing upon Fan- 
ning, but because it shows the desire of the Executive 
to maintain the laws and to do justice, as far as pos- 
sible, to all classes. 



Governor Burke to Messrs. Ramsey and others, 
Prisoners taken at Chatham. 

State of North Carolina, \ 
July 2Sth, 1781. / 

Gentlemen: — I have received your letter, dated 
from McFall's Mill, Raft Swamp, 22d July. 

Your having been made prisoners has already 
been announced to me, but I have not yet obtained 
sufficient information whereby to determine whether 
you were acting in a military or civil character at 
the time of the capture. 

I shall make every due enquiry, and be assured I 
will be attentive to you as far as my power and cir- 
cumstances will admit. 

From your letter I am led to suppose Colonel Fan- 
ning to be an officer commissioned by his Britannic 
Majesty, for the people who compose his force must 
be inhabitants of this State. 

Since my return to this State, which is the same 

with the time of my being in my present office, I 

15 



170 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

have received a variety of accounts of reciprocal 
violences and enormities between the well and ill- 
affected to our government which disgrace humanity ; 
but I have received no such information in such a 
mode as can justify my interposition, either as a civil 
magistrate or military officer, except in one case, on 
which I instantly took decisive measures. I have 
issued the most pointed orders against all rapine on 
any pretence, and against every act unbecoming brave 
and magnanimous soldiers and civilized people. I 
shall, as much as possible, attend to the strict execu- 
tion of such orders ; but for the grievances of which 
the people you mention complain, I can do nothing 
at present but put the judiciary power in vigor and 
preserve it free to hear the complaints of all persons, 
and independent to determine them agreeably to jus- 
tice and the laws of the State. For this measure is 
now in train, and if the people you mention are really 
aggrieved, the regular mode of redress will be open 
to them. If they be not citizens of this State, or of 
the United States, I suppose they must be objects of 
the law martial, which, so far as depends on me, 
shall be executed agreeable to the usages of civilized 
nations. I cannot discover from your letter whether 
the Scotch gentleman you mention is a prisoner of 
war or a civil prisoner. Upon application made to me 
by or for him, which will enable me to distinguish, 
measures shall be taken suitable to their condition. 
I anij gentlemen, your obedient servant, 

Thomas Burke. 



COL. DAVID FANNING. 171 

Without further comment on the above letters, we 
leave them to the perusal and reflections of the 
reader, and return to Fanning where we left him 
with his band of heroes at Wilmington, basking in 
the reflections of royal favor and inspirited by the 
tokens of that favor which he received to aim at still 
greater achievements. 

BATTLE AT McFALL'S MILL. 

" They remained at Wilmington three days, during 
which time he received a commission from Major 
Craig, of Lieutenant Colonel, and a suit of rich 
regimentals, with suitable epaulettes, sword and pis- 
tols. He set out on his return to Chatham, and 
at McFall's mill, having encamped, intelligence was 
received by express that Colonel Thomas Wade, of 
Anson county, with six hundred and sixty men, were 
at Betti's bridge, on Drowning creek, twenty miles 
south of McFall's mill. The express reached the 
camp about eight o'clock at night. Fanning ordered 
his men to mount their horses and march immediately. 
At the dawn of day, ten miles north of Betti's bridge, 
they came up with Colonel Hector McNeill, having 
with him three hundred men ; the whole number 
then amounted to three hundred and forty. Fanning 
took the command, and soon learning that Colonel 
Wade had crossed the bridge to the eastern side of 
Drowning creek, he turned to the right, and passed 
up a swamp to a crossway, expecting to find Colonel 
Wade between that swamp and the creek. The 



172 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

crossway was distant about three-quarters of a mile 
from Betti's bridge. Fanning halted at the cross- 
way and gave notice of the order of battle. His 
men were directed to pass the crossway, two deep, 
and all having got over, Colonel McNeill was ordered 
to turn down the swamp to the left towards the bridge, 
to cut off Wade's retreat in that direction. He was 
ordered not to bring bis men into action unless Fan- 
ning should be hard pressed and in danger of being 
defeated, but to watch the progress of the battle, and 
if Wade should be routed, by securing the pass to 
the bridge, to prevent his retreat, and capture as 
many prisoners as possible. Fanning was to turn to 
the right from the end of the crossway with all the 
other men, and they were directed to follow him in 
the same order in which they passed the crossway, 
until he should reach the extreme left of Wade's 
line, when upon a signal to be given by him, they 
were to dismount and commence the fight. Eleven 
men were left to guard the crossway and prevent the 
escape of the horses, the swamp being impassable for 
miles except at this crossway. 

" These orders being given. Fanning, preceding his 
column, passed the crossway, his men following him. 
As soon as he passed, he discovered AYade's men 
drawn up on the top of the hill in line of battle. 
The ground was favorable for his attack. There was 
no undergrowth of bushes, and the pines were thinly 
scattered on the slope of the hill. Fanning imme- 
diately perceived the injudicious position which 
Wade had taken, and confident of victory, rode on 



COL. DAVID FANNING. 173 

to the left of Wade's line. Before, however, he had 
proceeded as far as he had intended, one of his men 
was thrown from his horse, and in the act of falling 
his gun fired. Instantly Wade's line fired, and 
eighteen horses belonging to Tanning's men were 
killed. Fanning wheeled, gave the signal to dis- 
mount, which was instantly observed by his men, who 
poured in a deadly fire upon Wade's line. Fanning 
rode along his line in front and ordered his men to 
advance upon every fire, and they continued to 
advance and fire until they got within twenty-five 
yards of Wade's line, when it suddenly broke, and 
the men fled in the utmost confusion. Fanning pur- 
suing with activity, and expecting that their retreat 
by the bridge would be cut off by Col. McNeill he 
had no doubt of taking them all prisoners. To his 
astonishment, he found that Col. McNeill had not 
occupied the ground to which he was ordered ; that 
he had passed down the right of Wade's line, only a 
short distance, and left the way to the bridge open. 
Fanning pressed on the fugitives, and soon took 
forty-four prisoners. He then directed a few of his 
men to mount, and with them he pursued Wade at 
full speed, for two or three miles. But Wade had 
fled at full speed, and Fanning could not overtake 
him. 

^' During this fight, as well as upon every other 
occasion. Fanning displayed the most daring courage. 
Dressed in rich British uniform, he rode between the 
lines during the fight, and gave his orders with the 



174 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

utmost coolness and presence of mind. It is strange 
that he had not been selected by some of Wade's 
men, as he was at the close of the fight, not twenty 
yards distant from them. He did not lose one of his 
men, only two or three were slightly wounded. As 
he ascended the hill. Wade's men shot over his, and 
when he approached the summit, Wade's men were so 
panic struck that they fired without aim. Wade lost 
27 killed, and of the prisoners taken, several died of 
their wounds. 

" The battle was fought about 10 o'clock in the fore- 
noon, on the day of July, 1781. It is said 

that Wade had 600 men : Fanning fought the battle 
with 240 men, for the detachment under Colonel 
McNeill was not engaged. Orders were given for 
burying the dead, and the wounded were placed 
under the care of Eanning's Surgeons." 

This was the first time that he had been engaged, 
at least when invested with authority, and, consid- 
ered merely as a commanding officer, he certainly 
acquitted himself with honor. Cool and self-possessed 
every where, judicious in his arrangements, ready to 
expose himself when really necessary, vigilant and 
quick to perceive where an advantage might be 
gained, and prompt and energetic to avail himself of 
every circumstance or occurrence that could be ren- 
dered auxiliary to his success, he showed that, with 
proper intellectual training and moral culture when 
his character was forming, he might have made a 
commanding ofiicer of higher grade and of much 
distinction; in a better cause too, and on a more 



COL. DAVID FANNING. 175 

extended theatre. We cannot do otherwise than 
feel some regret, both for his own sake and for the 
cause of humanity, that his character had not been 
formed under a better influence; but we must 
acknowledge the hand of an overruling Providence 
in the affairs of men. 

" Among the prisoners taken was Joseph Hayes, 
He was recognized by Capt. Elrod, of Fanning's 
party. Elrod alleged that Hayes had plundered his 
house and ill-treated his family, and Hays was order- 
ed to be instantly hanged. The order was executed. 
Hayes, after hanging fifteen minutes, was cut down. 
One of the surgeons being present, thought that he 
could resuscitate him, and determined to make the 
trial. Perceiving the appearance of returning life, 
he informed Elrod of the fact, and Elrod told him to 
persevere. He did so, and Hayes was restored to 
life. 

" In the evening Fanning set out on his return. 
During his march on the next day, an incident occur- 
red which is worthy of being recorded, as furnishing 
some relief to the painful scenes which the country 
was then witnessing. A scouting party apprehended 
Col. Thomas Dougan, of Randolph county, and 
brought him to Fanning. He had been sent by the 
Whigs of the upper counties to learn the situation of 
affairs on Drowning creek, the strength and position 
of the Tories, and their plans of operation. He was 
beloved by the people of his county, both parties 
regarded him as an upright man, and a friend to his 
country ; and those who differed from him in opinion 



176 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

as to the contest in which they were engaged, abated 
neither their esteem nor affection. With Fanning 
were several of his intimate acquaintances and per- 
sonal friends, who all knowing that by the custom of 
the times, men taken under circumstances like his 
were immediately hanged, apprehended the same fate 
would attend him. They resolved to make a gener- 
ous effort to save him. Trials, often upon such 
occasions, were short and their execution prompt. 
Col. Dougan was brought forward, his case was heard 
in a few minutes, and Fanning ordered him to be 
hung. Dougan's friends interposed their entreaties, 
and whilst they were imploring Fanning to spare his 
life, he was mounted on a horse with a rope round 
his neck, and placed under the limb of the tree to 
which he was to be suspended. At this moment one 
of his friends, finding entreaties unavailing, told 
Fanning in peremptory terms, that if Dougan was 
hanged he would instantly shoot him. A general 
mutiny was threatened, when Fanning resolved to 
leave Dougan's fate to the decision of the forty men 
who had attended him in all his expeditions. They 
divided, and a majority declared in Dougan's favor. 
He was then taken down and treated as a prisoner." 
*' Another man, by the name of Johnson, from the 
same neighborhood, was taken either with Dougan or 
about the same time. He also was much esteemed, 
but not, by all parties, so much as Dougan. Elrod 
was a young man of true courage, and lived in the 
Fork of the Yadkin. Although he committed many 
atrocities and was much dreaded in the country, he 



COL. DAVID FANNING. 177 

was capable of performing, occasionally, a generous 
act ; but some further account of him and of his 
death, at which Dougan was present, will be given 
hereafter, in a separate article. 

" At McFall's mill. Col. McNeill and Fanning sepa- 
rated ; the latter, with his forty men, returned to 
Beck's Ford, on Deep river, where his men dispersed, 
and part of them returned to their respective homes. 
The prisoners taken at Betti's bridge, with Col. Dou- 
gan " and others," were left with Col. McNeill to be 
sent to Wilmington. 

" During the time Fanning remained in the neigh- 
borhood of Beck's Ford, Stephen Lewis and — 

Short, who had deserted him on his march to Wil- 
mington, returned to his camp. He reproached them 
for their desertion, and told Lewis he would put him 
to death ; that his men must be true to him, as he 
intended to be true to them ; that they were at liberty 
to punish him with death the moment he should prove 
unfaithful to them, as he would punish with death 
those who should prove unfaithful to him. Lewis 
treated his admonition as well as his threat with 
levity. Fanning raised his gun, and standing within 
a few feet of Lewis, took deliberate aim at him : his 
gun snapped ; he then drew his sword and made a 
pass at Lewis' head, and cut him severely. Some of 
Fanning's men rushed in and prevented a repetition 
of the blow, and Lewis' life was spared. It was by 
such prompt, decisive conduct, and by a constant dis- 
play of energy, firmness, and daring courage, that he 
sought to win the esteem and attachment of his men 



178 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

and such was his success, that many followed his for 
tunes who disapproved of his barbarous cruelties, be- 
ing led on by their admiration of his extraordinary 
qualities — they thought him invincible, and that with 
a handful of men he could defeat large detachments. 
*' Captain Robert Roper, of Chatham, collected a 
small party of Whigs and marched up Deep river to 
attack Fanning, who was still at 3eck's Ford. Fan- 
ning seeing some of Roper's men on the opposite 
side of the river, attempted to cross the river, accom- 
panied only by Short. As soon as they entered the 
river they were fired on and Short wounded. They 
retreated ; and, directing his men to mount and fol- 
low him, he hastened to a ford a few miles above, 
where he crossed ; and being acquainted with all the 
paths and roads of the neighborhood, he went down 
the river along a small path, expecting to find Roper 
still at Beck's ford. In this he was disappointed — 
Roper retired down the river in haste, and Fanning 
pursued him till late at night, when he abandoned the 
pursuit. He then had with him only twenty-three 
or four men. On the next day he proceeded down 
the river and took Moore, of Hillsboro', a prisoner. 
He was an inoffensive man, and at the solicitation of 
one of his men, who was acquainted with Moore, Fan- 
ning paroled him. On the same day he took Wyat 
and Tomlinson prisoners, near the gulph on Deep 
river ; and as they were connected with an active 
Whig family, he resolved to hang them. They were 
placed in a cart with ropes round their necks. The 
cart was driven partly through a gate, to the top piece 



COL. DAVID FANNING. 179 

of which the ropes were about to be fastened, and 
then, when they were about to be swung off, some of 
Fanning's men, who knew them, interfered and saved 
them. He left their fate, as he had done that of 
Coh Dougan, to the decision of his followers. Fan- 
ning immediately set out for Wilmington, and took 
Wyat and Tomlinson on with him as prisoners, and 
delivered them to Major Craig. 

" He remained in Wilmington five days. His camp 
was near the brick house at Belvidere. Here an inci- 
dent occurred which marked the peculiar traits of his 
character. He sent three of his men to bring water. 
At the spring they met with some British soldiers ; 
and owing to some difference with them, they were 
put under guard. Fanning was informed of this fact, 
and he immediately ordered three British soldiers who 
were in the camp to be put under guard, and gave 
notice to the officer who commanded at Belvidere of 
what he had done, and that he should retain those 
men until his were returned. The officer, indignant 
at his insolence, drew his sword and hastened to 
Fanning's camp. Fanning was lying in a tent, and 
the officer entering the tent, inquired whether he was 
Col. Fanning, who had dared to arrest and place 
under guard, three British soldiers. Fanning an- 
swered that he was the man. The officer raised his 
sword and made a pass at him, which Fanning eluded 
by his agility ; and having grasped his sword as he 
rose, he pointed it to the breast of the officer, and 
swore he would run him through if he attempted again 
to lift his sword. The officer saw the dani^er which 



180 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

threatened him. They entered into conversation, 
which ended in a dechiration made by Fanning, that 
he would retain the officer until his men were returned. 
A soldier was immediately despatched for Fanning's 
men, and upon their return to camp the officer and 
British soldiers were discharged." 



CAPTURE OF COLONEL PHILIP ALSTON. 

Immediately after his return he made his famous 
attack on the house of Colonel Philip Alston, who 
lived in the south-west corner of Chatham county, 
and in a bend of the river, on the north side, called 
the Horse Shoe. On his return from Wilmington, he 
encamped at Cross Hill, near the present town of 
Carthage, and on the place then, or afterwards occu- 
pied by Mrs. Glascock. There he received informa- 
tion that there was a party of men at Col. Alston's, 
and he resolved to attack them. Alston, with a good 
deal of the daring and reckless character about him, 
had been very severe on the Tories, especially during 
the early part of the war ; and now, when Fanning 
seemed to be carrying every thing before him, and 
when no Whig in that region could feel safe in his 
own house a single night unprotected, he had more 
cause of apprehension than many others. He may, 
therefore, have had these men simply to protect his 
house from the depredations of these freebooters ; 
but, according to my information, Fanning was in- 
formed that he was raising a body of men for the 



COL. DAVID FANNING. 181 

purpose of attacking liim ; and therefore he resolved 
to take him by surprise, and before he could be fully 
prepared even for defence. 

Such was the reason assigned in McBride's papers 
for the attack on Alston's house ; but I have recently 
received a communication from a correspondent who 
lives in the Scotch region, and in whose judgment 
and careful investigations I have much confidence, in 
which he gives, in substance, the following account : 
Colonel Wade, with a hundred mounted men, had 
been through the region, watered by the tributaries 
of Drowning's creek and the Raft swamp, taking ven- 
geance on the Tories for some injuries which he had 
lately received from them. Among others, he made 
a visit to Kenneth Black, a man in comfortable cir- 
cumstances, but a Tory ; and not long after he left, 
Colonel Fanning came along, going South, with about 
a dozen Whig prisoners, among whom was a lawyer 
by the name of Lightwood. Fanning stayed all night 
at the house of his friend Black, and was very kindly 
entertained. Next morning after breakfast, he re- 
sumed his march, and Black accompanied him for a 
few miles, as a pilot. Fanning's horse had been so 
badly foundered that he was unfit to travel, and at 
parting, he and Black exchanged horses. AVhen 
returning home, on the north side of Bay's mill 
creek, he met Colonel Alston, with a number of men, 
in pursuit of Fanning, and for the purpose of rescuing 
the prisoners. As soon as he saw them, he turned up 
the creek and attempted to escape on Fanning's foun- 
16 



182 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

dcrcd horse. They discovered and pursued him, shot 
at and wounded him ; but he went on some two hun- 
dred yards farther, into the edge of the swamp, and 
then fell with his face on the ground. When they 
came up they smashed his head with the butt of his 
own gun, and when begging for his life. 

Alston, finding that it was useless, did not continue 
the pursuit very far ; but, on his return next morn- 
ing, he called at Black's and told Mrs. Black how 
some of his men had killed her husband, for which 
he expressed much regret. Thence he went to a 
neighbor's house, where old Hector McNeill (not the 
Colonel,) and John Buchan were engaged in making 
the coffin. Alston had sold a negro woman to 
McNeill, but not having sold her husband with her, 
he had run away, and he accused McNeill of harbor- 
ing him. He snapped a pistol two or three times at 
his head and then carried him off a prisoner, telling 
him that if the negro was not returned by such a day, 
he would hang him. Mrs. McNeill engaged her own 
negro man to catch the runaway, which he did ; and 
then she, in company with another lady, took the 
negro home to his master, confined and guarded 
by her own negro man. Her husband was then re- 
leased ; and, as both parties viewed each other with 
distrust, Alston was probably confirmed in his former 
suspicion. 

If I am not mistaken in the localities mentioned 
by my informant, the transactions above related took 
place in the south or south-west part of Moore county; 
and if so, Fanning at this time must have had his head 



COL. DAVID FANNING. 183 

quarters at or not far from Cross Hill, where I had 
always understood he had them. Where he had got 
his prisoners is not known ; but as Alston was endea- 
voring to rescue them, it is probable that they were 
from his region of country. Nor is it known to what 
point he was aiming to take them. My informant 
says, playfully, that he was taking them to his 
"Pravo" or " Caboos," in South Carolina; but we 
presume that he either took them to Wilmington, or 
gave them into the hands of some of his Tory friends 
who carried them away and delivered them to the 
British. He soon returned, however, and went to 
the house of Mrs. Black, where he was informed of 
all that had been done, and the facts, we may sup- 
pose, were feelingly described, with all their aggra- 
vating circumstances. When he learned that Alston 
had pursued him ; that he had carried away McNeill 
as a prisoner ; that he had killed his friend Black, 
who had received him so hospitably only a few nights 
before ; that he killed two beeves for his entertain- 
ment, he became desperately enraged, and mustering 
all the force he could, set off forthwith for Alston's 
house. What number of men he had is not known ; 
but, if he had not his full complement, they were 
increasing every day. 

At this time, when flushed by so many victories, 
and confident of success, it made but little difference 
with him whether his enemy outnumbered him two to 
one, or wasf ortified as by the rocks of Gibralter. He 
only wanted to know that there was an enemy within 
striking distance, and he anticipated the victory as 



184 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

already gained. On receiving intelligence, therefore, 
of the party at Alston's house, he immediately set 
out; and as the river had been a little swelled by a 
rain, he directed his course to the north-west for a 
few miles and then turned to the right, crossed the 
river at Dickerson's ford, three or four miles above 
Alston's, and went down on the north side. They 
arrived on the premises about day-break on Sunday 
morning, August 5th, and immediately commenced 
the attack. The sentinels, being asleep, were taken 
by surprise, and made prisoners. Those at the gate, 
on the opposite side of the enclosure, were fired on, 
but not being killed or badly wounded, they ran into 
the porch where most of the other party were lying 
asleep. They too were fired on ; but as soon as they 
could get into the house, the doors were fastened 
and all the preparation for defence was made that 
could be made at the moment. The windows were 
soon demolished ; and many of the balls passing 
through the plank, killed or wounded the men inside. 
The house was a two story framed house ; and 
being weatherboarded, ceiled and painted, was one 
of the best houses then to be seen in that part of the 
country. It stands now just as it did then, with the 
exception of some additions, and still bears all the 
marks of war that it had when left by Fanning. On 
the west side was a large porch, one end of which 
had been made into a bed room, with a door opening 
into the hall ; and this was the room usually occupied 
by Mrs. Alston and her husband. She now kept her 
bed, which was thought to be the safest place for her ; 



COL. DAVID FANNING. 185 

and her two little children were put up into the chim- 
ney. This was done bj putting a small table or 
bench in the fire-place, for them to stand on, which 
was about as high as the front part ; and thus they 
were entirely beyond the reach of the bullets. 

A few rods from the house, on every side, was a 
strong rail fence, behind which Fanning po&ted his 
men and commenced a brisk firing, which was re- 
turned by the party in the house, and kept up, with- 
out much efiect on either side, until after the middle 
of the day. There was among the assailants, a 
lieutenant from the British army by the name of 
McKay, or as, I am told, it was then pronounced 
and is now written, McCoy, who had either returned 
with Fanning from Wilmington, or, according to my 
authority, had been sent by Major Craig, probably 
for the purpose of observing the state of things in 
the country whence Fanning had taken so many pri- 
soners, and being in Fanning's camp when the news 
came of the party at Alstons, he promptly joined the 
expedition. 

Having been accustomed to the use of the bayonet 
and to a rush when a place was to be taken by 
assault, he became impatient at this mode of attack, 
which seemed likely to accomplish nothing, and he 
told Fanning that if he would give him the command 
he would take the house in a few minutes. Fanning 
promptly granted his request, and he as promptly 
entered on the execution of his purpose. As the 
plan was for all to rush up, burst open the doors and 
enter, pell mell, he started first and ordered the rest 



186 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

to follow liim, which thej did without hesitation, and 
some of them pari passu ; but as he jumped over tlie 
fence and alighted on the ground, a rifle ball entered 
his heart, and he fell dead on the spot. Most of those 
who had got over the fence or were still on it were 
more or less wounded, and they retreated to their 
former position behind the fence. Foiled in this 
unfortunate effort, and driven back with loss, the 
genius of Fanning, ever fertile in expedients, was 
now busy in contriving some way to accomplish by 
stratagem what he had failed to effect by force ; 
and he first bribed a free negro to set the house on 
fire at the far side where it was supposed he could do 
it without being observed ; but Alston having noticed 
Fanning talking to the negro, or seeing the negro 
go round, and suspecting his design, went to the win- 
dow and shot him when in the very act of applying 
the fire. The negro was not killed, but severely 
wounded. During all this time only one or two had 
been killed in the house, and four or five wounded ; 
but Fanning's loss in killed and wounded was more 
than double. After the failure of his plan with the 
free negro, an almost incessant fire, on both sides, 
was kept up for some time, but still without much 
effect ; and through the whole of this fierce conflict 
thus far, Mrs. Alston had been in her bed and had 
remained unhurt, though the weatherboarding and 
ceiling were riddled with the bullets, which remain 
to this day as they were then ; and some of them 
must have passed not more than two feet above her 
when she lay in the bed. 



/ 



COL. DAVID FANNING. 187 

After such a protracted conflict and with so much 
loss to himself, Fanning began to feel discouraged ; 
and either from the apparent hopelessness of his 
cause, or from an apprehension that the report of 
the guns might alarm the country and bring a Whig 
force upon him too great for his strength, he was on 
the point of abandoning the enterprise and drawing 
off his men, when he or some of his men fortunately 
discovered a large ox cart in the barn yard, a few 
rods in their rear; and with this he resolved to make 
his last effort. He ordered them to fill it with hay 
or straw, and bring it up, intending to set it on fire 
and run it up to the house. If he could burn the 
house they would be obliged to surrender, and his 
end would be accomplished. 

Several of the men promptly volunteered their ser- 
vices ; the fire was brought ; and they were about ready 
for the operation. The plan was to run up the cart with 
its load, tail foremost, and thus keep it between them 
and the house, so that the bullets could not reach them. 
Alston, perceiving their design, and knowing well, 
that defended as they would be, by the cart, it would 
be impossible to shoot them, concluded that their only 
chance was to capitulate ; but how was it to be done ? 
The men all believed that if any of them ventured to 
go outside of the house, instant death would be the 
consequence, though the flag of peace were waving 
over their head ; and if Alston himself went out, no 
matter under what circumstances, or who might be 
with him, he would be picked out and made the first 
victim. In this perilous and critical moment. Mrs. 
Alston came out of her bed room or stood in the 



188 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

door ; and with perfect composure, requested tliem to 
commit tins business to her. At first, the men all 
objected, and particularly her husband, who thought 
it very improbable that Fanning, under all the cir- 
cumstances, would respect even a lady of her stand- 
ing, though a wife and a mother, and bearing the 
sacred emblem of peace ; but, as she insisted on it, 
they finally consented. A man may brave danger 
with deliberate courage, like a hero on the field of 
battle, where all the intense excitements of the con- 
flict, and the hope of victory are bearing upon him; 
he may meet death with a kind of defiance, like a 
savage or a desperado ; he may die with tranquility 
like a patriot, or with resignation and hope, like a 
Christian ; but such serenity of mind, such calm and 
entire self-possession, such mild and dignified firmness 
in moments of sudden and extreme peril, when life or 
death is seen to depend both on what is done and how 
it is done, is peculiar to woman. Mrs. Alston, rais- 
ing a white flag, opened the door and went out on the 
step, where she paused for a moment to see if she 
could discover any indications of the treatment which 
she might expect to receive. 

As soon as Fanning saw her, he called to her to 
meet him half-way, which she did ; and then, in a 
calm, dignified and womanly manner, said to him : — 
''We will surrender, sir, on condition that no one shall 
be injured ; otherwise we will make the best defence 
we can ; and, if need be, sell our lives as dearly as 
possible." Fanning, who could sometimes respect 
^rue courage, whether in man or woman, promptly 



COL. DAVID FANNING. 189 

agreed to the proposal, and honorably kept his. word. 
The men all then surrendered and were immedi- 
ately paroled. 

In the papers of Judge Murphy, as given in the 
University Magazine, it is stated that during the fight, 
Capt. Andrews, a British officer, who had accompa- 
nied Fanning from Wilmington, having climbed up 
the fence that he might shoot with more effect through 
a window of the house, as he stood on the fence, 
one of the men in the house shot him through the 
head; and I have stated that Lieutenant McKay, 
from the British army was killed. As these accounts 
are all traditionary, an exact agreement in every 
particular is hardly to be expected ; but in this case 
both may be true. There may have been a Captain 
Andrews and also a Lieutenant McKay present, as 
officers from the British army, both of whom were 
killed ; for such was Fanning's success at this time, 
that it would not be at all strange if two or more of 
the British officers should be with him on any occa- 
sion of the kind ; and then there were more killed 
than we would gather from Judge Murphy's account. 
Next morning after the fight, eight were buried on 
the brow of the hill, a few rods from the house ; and 
whether any of the wounded afterwards died of their 
wounds, I have not learned, but probably they did. 
Most of the dead were of Fanning's party ; For only 
two, or at most three, of Alston's men were killed. 
According to the statements which I have received, 
Alston had a little over twenty, and Fanning some- 
where about thirty men ; but Judge Murphy says that 



190 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

Panning had only twenty-four men including Captain 
Andrews, and that twenty-six men surrendered to 
him. I have no disposition to question the correct- 
ness of this statement, hut it seems a little strange, 
that with such a disparity of numbers in their favor, 
Alston and his party, even if driven to extremity by 
having the house set on fire, should be unwilling to 
meet their enemies in open combat. My information 
was obtained partly from the papers of Mr. McBride 
and partly from Dr. Chalmers, who now lives in the 
house which was then occupied by Col. Alston. In 
addition to the reports or traditions of the neighbor- 
hood, Dr. Chalmers, two or three summers ago, tra- 
velled with his family through the State of Tennessee 
and became acquainted with the sons of Col. Alston, 
from whom he got a statement of the whole transac- 
tion. Col. Alston, himself, lived only a short time 
after the war, having been killed, as I was informed, 
by a negro whom he had treated with severity or pro- 
voked in some way; and the children were probably 
too young at the time to have, in after life, a very 
distinct recollection of the scene ; but they must have 
often heard the facts related by their mother. John 
Spears, who lived down the river, and was wounded 
in Alston's house, when he returned urged Captain 
Cunningham, who had a company of Whigs then 
under his command, to pursue Fanning ; but he de- 
clined ; and Judge Murphy says, that according to 
report, " a company of Whigs under Capt. Duck were 
lying near Alston's house and heard the firing from 
the morning till evening and feared to come to 
Alston's relief. 



COL. DAVID FANNING. 191 



CAPTURE OF CAMPBELTON, NOW FAYETTE VILLE. 

The fact is that the very name of Fanning was at 
this time quite appaling, and he was regarded by all 
in that region, Whigs and Tories, as almost invinci- 
ble. So far as my recollection serves me, I do not 
recollect to have heard of an instance, during the 
summer of 1781, in which the Whigs showed a willing- 
ness to meet him with an equal, or any thing like an 
equal number of men ; but, within the entire range 
of his operations, no effective resistance was made, 
and the country was really in his power. I have 
always understood that, during this period, the sum- 
mer and fall of 1781, he had about eighty men who 
were either constantly with him or at his bidding, 
and whom he could at any time summon to his pres- 
ence in a case of emergency ; that he seldom had 
less than thirty or forty, and that when Colonels 
McNeill and McDougal united with him, they could 
muster from three to five hundred strong. In the 
high career of successful adventure, and with flatter- 
ing prospects before him, it appears to have been his 
object to take as many prisoners as he could for the 
British camp, and to bring the country into subjec- 
tion to British authority. He seldom murdered any, 
except such as had proved treacherous to his cause, 
and those who had excited his wrath by uttering 
threats, or by resisting his progress. When excited, 
so impetuous and vindictive was his temper, that 
whoever had given him the least provocation, if in 



192 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENT?. 

his power, was sure to be made the victim of his 
malice, and in all cases the process was a summary 
one. 

A few days after he captured Col. Alston and his 
party, he and his confederates took possession of 
Campleton, now Fayetteville, and carried off Col. 
Emmet, Capt. Winslow, and other leading men, 
prisoners ; but the best and perhaps the only authen- 
tic account which we now have of this transaction, is 
contained in the following letter, furnished by Gov- 
ernor Swain, and published in the University Maga- 
zine, March, 1851. 

Col. Emmet to Gov. Burke. 

" Camphelton, 19th August, 1781. 

" Sir : — I am under the disagreeable necessity of 
informing your Excellency that, on Thursday last, 
the 14th inst., between nine and ten o'clock in the 
morning, this town was, in the most sudden manner 
imaginable, surprised by a party of the enemy, under 
the command of Colonels Slingsley, Ray and McNeill. 
They entered the town in so sudden and secret a 
manner that it was out of the power of any man who 
was in it to make his escape. I was at a plantation 
I have about a mile off, when I was alarmed by a 
party of about twenty horse. The noise of their 
horses' feet just gave me time to slip into a swamp, 
where I lay until the party left the plantation, which 
they did as soon as they had deprived me of my 
horses. I then got over the river, when I learned 



COL. DAVID FANNING. 193 

tlieir numbers to be about three liundred. I was 
likewise informed the same evening, that McNeill, 
with one hundred men, had gone up the river on the 
west side, and, not being able to judge where they 
might intend to cross the river, thought it mj best 
way to keep where I was. Had I done so, I might 
have kept clear of them, but at such times so many 
reports are flying, that there is no such thing as dis- 
tinguishing the true one. At midnight, between the 
16th and 17th, word was brought me that a Col. 
Fanning came down the country with one hundred 
and eighty men^ made a short stay at Cross creek, 
had crossed the river at lower Campbleton late in the 
evening, and at that time was encamped, with an 
intention in the morning to pursue his march up the 
river, and so join McNeill on the east side. On this 
information, I unfortunately crossed the river, early 
in the morning, and about nine o'clock was taken a 
prisoner by McNeill, on his return to town. 

" It was not my intention to trouble your Excel- 
lency with this tedious relation, by way of intelli- 
gence. I am sure you do not expect it from one in 
my situation, but as I have many private enemies in 
this county who would be glad to lay hold on any 
circumstances to vilify my conduct and blacken my 
name, I have taken the liberty to trouble you with 
this, by way of vindication. 

With all deference, I remain, sir, 

Your Excellency's obed't serv't, 

James Emmet. 

To his Excellency Thomas Burke, Esq., Governor 
of N. Carolina." 

17 



194 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

Let the reader now go back a little and observe 
the boldness and rapidity with which all the above 
victories were achieved. Besides the almost daily 
capture of some influential individual who would be 
acceptable to the British as prisoners ; the cutting 
off of such as were particularly obnoxious to him, 
and the dispersion of small parties of armed Whigs, 
on the 15th of July he entered Pittsboro', and cap- 
tured all the officers of court, w^ith most cf the 
principal citizens, whom he delivered in a few days 
to the British authorities at Wilmington ; on the 5th 
of August, he captured Col. Alston and his party in 
his own house ; on the 14th, he took possession of 
Campbelton and made prisoners of the principal 
citizens ; on the 1st of September, the battle was 
fought at McFall's mill, on the Raft Swamp, where 
he gained on his part an almost bloodless victory ; 
and on the 13th, he entered Hillsboro', and captured 
Governor Burke, with his whole suite and thirty or 
forty of the prominent citizens. This was perhaps 
his most famous exploit — the one which spread more 
alarm over the country than any other, and is the 
only one of his important achievements which 
remains to be described. 



COL. DAVID FANNING. 195 



CAPTURE OF GOVERNOR BURKE. 

With whom the project of capturing the Governor 
of the state and delivering him to the British at Wil- 
mington, originated, is not known. Perhaps it never 
was known to more than two or three, nor is it a 
matter of much consequence in itself, but the enter- 
prise was one of so much boldness in its conception 
and so much energy and heroism in its execution, 
that the traditions of the country have ascribed its 
paternity to Colonel Fanning. From some circum- 
stances however, while he was the most prominent 
and efficient actor in the whole process, I am dis- 
posed to attribute its origination to some other. The 
movement was one of peril and of bold adventure ; 
it necessarily involved the loss of many valuable 
lives on both sides ; it was successful beyond any 
reasonable expectation ; and therefore, being vastly 
important in its results to the whole community, 
deserves to be traced, if possible, from its inception 
to its consummation ; but in doing so, we are left very 
much to conjecture, and in that sphere every one 
must think or judge for himself. If it was not pro- 
posed by Major Craig at Wilmington, which we think 
very likely, it was probably first suggested to Colonel 
Ray, or some one of the Scotch leaders, by the fol- 
lowing incidents, which were rather of an amusing 
character, and which occurred only a few days before 
they began to assemble at their place of rendezvous. 
The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, 



196 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

is a maxim of the highest authority, and we see it as 
often vivified in military operations as in other pur- 
suits. 

As the Tories, now stimulated by the proximity of 
a British force and by the daring achievements of 
Fanning, were more menacing and troublesome than 
they had been at any time since the battle of Moore's 
creek, Colonel James Hinton, of Wake county, with 
about two hundred and fifty men, crossed the Cape 
Fear and penetrated into the north side of Cumber- 
land County, for the purpose of subduing or dispersing 
them. John McLean, who, I have been told, had 
been a Captain in the Tory army and was still a 
loyalist, but not so zealous in the cause as some 
others, lived on the north side of upper Little river, 
on one of its tributaries, and his mill was known to 
be a place of resort for the Tory corps that were 
embodying in that region. Hinton went to McLean's 
first, but was disappointed in not finding his enemies. 
However, as they were in pretty good quarters and 
supposed they had no cause to apprehend any danger, 
they were in no hurry to get away. The captain 
was not there to receive his visitors and treat them 
with the best he had ; but they concluded that they 
would make free and "Johnny Penny like," help 
themselves to whatever they preferred. Some of 
them cut down corn for their horses and others turned 
theirs into the field. They killed a beef or two, got 
some other articles of provisions, and, in fine spirits, 
commenced making preparations for dinner. 

About the same number of Tories were at no great 



COL. DAVID FANNING. 197 

distance, embodied under McLean, McDougal, Mal- 
colm McKay and Archibald McKay; but they were 
some eight or ten miles above, near the mouth of 
Jones' creek. Having got some intelligence of 
Hinton's visit in the neighborhood and wishing to 
approach him very cautiously, instead of taking the 
ridge road, which was much the nearest and best, they 
followed the meanderings of the river, and near the 
Beaver ponds, captured Barganier and Gholson, then 
on their way to join Hinton. An old man of that 
neighborhood, by the name of William Kennedy, 
followed his Tory friends, whether for the purpose of 
joining them or for some other reason, is not now 
recollected ; but he took the ridge road, which was 
much the nearest, and when he got there, instead of 
finding his friends, as he expected, he found the 
place occupied by a crowd of strangers. As the men 
were all out, some attending to their horses and 
others occupied in different ways, he saw nobody in 
the house, and walking through the kitchen door, he 
asked the old negro woman, Saph, who those men 
were ? but she replied, rather equivocally, ^' They are 
your own country people." With much haste and 
agitation, he repeated the question two or three times ; 
but always got the same equivocal answer. On seeing 
some of the Whigs approaching, and being perfectly 
aware of his danger, without some device, he stepped 
out quickly into the open space before the door, and 
clapping his hands with great earnestness, exclaimed 
at the top of his voice, " Clear yourselves or you will 
all be taken prisoners ! Clear yourselves for Colonel 
17* 



198 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

Fanning is coming round the field with five hundred 
men ! Cle<ar yourselves or you will all be surrounded 
and taken prisoners ! Clear yourselves !" From 
his manifesting so much earnestness and so much 
apparent concern for their safety, they could hardly 
doubt his good intentions, and they had no time to 
parley or reflect. Mounting their horses in haste 
and telling him to come along, they galloped away 
over the bridge and in much confusion. He did not 
object to go with them ; but he must first get his 
horse. After crossing the bridge and finding that 
Kennedy was neither with them nor following them, 
they began to think there was no danger and some 
of them returned to search for the man who had given 
such a false alarm ; but he had got what he wanted, 
an opportunity to escape, and was not to be found. 
The Whigs encamped for the night a little above the 
bridge ; but had not entirely recovered from their 
panic : and their circumstances required circumspec- 
tion, for they could not, with two hundred and fifty 
men, encounter an army of five hundred, with Fan- 
ning at their head, and in their own country, where 
they were all acquainted with the swamps, and where 
they might, in a few hours, be reinforced by a much 
larger number. 

In the course of the night the Tories arrived, but 
found no Whigs. One braggadocio blustered much, 
and was quite distressed because the Whigs were not 
there — " that they might give them such a drubbing;" 
but old Daniel McPherson thanked God that they 
were gone. Early next morning, sentinels were 



COL. DAVID FANNING. 199 

placed at the bridge. These sentinels, on seeing two 
or three men, who when hailed, said they were for 
the country, fired on them. This gave the alarm at 
the house and they all marched in battle array down 
the hill and over the bridge, but still they found no 
Whigs ; for, becoming apprehensive, it seems, from 
the firing of the sentinels, that Fanning, with five 
hundred men, was close at hand, they had mounted 
and fled in haste to the Cape Fear river. They 
crossed at a ford called the Fox Islands, and en- 
camped for the night a little above Col. McAlister's. 
The Tories followed them to the river, but did not 
cross. Next morning the Whigs w^ent up the river 
to the cross-roads, about half a mile above Atkin's 
ferry, where they halted for refreshment, and placed 
sentinels at the river, just above the ferry. They 
killed two beeves and some sheep, turned their horses 
into a fine pasture, and were preparing for a good 
feast. Some were roasting their meat, on spits be- 
fore the fire, and some had begun to eat, when the 
Tories fired on the sentinels across the river ; and 
directly a dozen guns were fired. Becoming alarmed 
again, they mounted their horses and fled, some leav- 
ing their meat roasting on spits before the fire, and 
some leaving both the bread and meat, which they 
were eating, just lying on the ends of fence rails. 
They had a few Scotch prisoners, chiefly men and 
boys — such as Hugh Ochiltree, John McLean, from 
Indian branch, and his son Neill, Malcom McPhail, 
Malcom Graham, Archibald McLean and a few 
others, about a dozen in all. As none of them were 



200 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

men of influence, and as there was no time for delay, 
tlioy just left them at the river, and without giving 
them any orders or instructions what to do. The 
Whigs, after getting into the Raleigh road, about 
half a mile, drew up across the road and made prepa- 
ration to receive their enemies ; but their prisoners, 
finding that they had been so unceremoniously left 
behind, began to consult among themselves whether 
they had better return home, remain there, or follow 
their captors ; but it was finally concluded that if 
they returned home, the Whigs, should they come 
back again at any time, might accuse them of break- 
ing custody and treat them with severity ; and that 
they had better follow on and stay with them, 
at least until they knew what disposal was to be 
made of them. With this intention they all set off 
together ; but the men under arms, on seeing their 
heads through the bushes, as they were ascending the 
hill in front, supposed them to be their enemies in hot 
pursuit, with Fanning at their head, and again fled 
in much confusion. 

After going seven or eight miles, they took up 
camp for the night ; and next morning, as the ten 
days for which the men had engaged, were expired, 
they were all disbanded and returned home, except 
Captain Hadley's company, which continued up in 
that direction, and was at the battle of Cane creek. 
The conduct of the Whigs on this occasion, is not to 
be attributed to cowardice, but to the alarm which 
they got at McLean's, and from which they had not 
yet recovered. Their conduct is still made the sub- 



COL. DAVID FANNING. 201 

ject of much amusement in that region, but without 
due regard to the circumstances. We all know, how 
often men under arms become mysteriously or unac- 
countably panic struck, and utterly unfit for any 
manly exercise of their powers. This often happens 
with veteran and well disciplined soldiers, but much 
oftener with militia. These men had left home with 
little or no camp equipage, and without any other 
arms than such as they carried in their hands. Hav- 
ing engaged for only ten days, they regarded it as an 
excursion of pleasure rather than as an enterprise 
full of toil and peril. Expecting to capture or dis- 
perse, in a few days, all the Tories they could find, 
they never thought of meeting with any serious opposi- 
tion. When they found themselves in the midst of ene- 
mies, with an armed force at least equal in number to 
their own, within a few miles, who were probably in- 
creasing every hour, and who, instead of avoiding, were 
seeking for them, the case was altered, and they were 
compelled to take care of themselves; but when they 
learned, or were led to believe, that an armed body, 
of at least double their number, with Fanning at their 
head, were in pursuit, alarm was unavoidable, and 
their own safety became the paramount object. The 
panic into which they were thrown by the crafty old 
Scotchman only showed the terror of Fanning's name; 
and was very much like many others which were pro- 
duced about that time, by the mention of his name. 
This whole affair was, however, an unimportant one in 
itself, and would hardly deserve our notice, but for 
the bearing which we suppose it had on the expedition 



202 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

to Ilillsboro'. It was well calculated to increase the 
courage of the Tories ; and as the way was now clear, 
it might readily have suggested to some of them the 
thought of making a bold push immediately into 
Ilillsboro' and carrying away the Governor. This 
was somewhere about the first of September, though 
the precise date is not recollected ; and on the fifth, 
five or six hundred of them, according to tradition, 
had assembled with their leaders, on the " Dry Fork," 
a tributary of Crane's creek, and were ready for 
marching orders. Much the largest body of Tories 
was now assembled, that appeared in arms at any one 
time after independence was declared ; and, accord- 
ing to tradition, they considered themselves as the 
prime movers in this enterprise. They certainly were 
the principal agents, and the greatest sufferers. The 
flower of the Scotch population were in this embodi- 
ment ; and all their best officers, most of whom had 
been much in the British service, and in all of whom 
they had full confidence were at their head. 

Colonel McNeill was there, and had the command 
of the whole. It belonged to him, according to 
military usage, as the senior officer ; but it would 
have been conceded to him, out of respect as the 
oldest man, for he was now advanced in life and had 
the full confidence of all who knew him. Colonel 
Duncan Ray, young, talented and enterprising, was 
also present ; and Colonel McDougal, though he was 
not made Colonel until afterwards, and then held no 
higher rank, as I am told, than that of Captain or 
Major. These had all been much in the British ser- 



COL. DAVID FANNING. liUd 

vice, and had the unlimited confidence of their 
countrymen. Fanning may possibly have been the 
originator and the master-spirit of this whole enter- 
prise ; but he was not with them when they were 
assembling, nor when they commenced their march. 
Tradition says that he had the separate command of 
his own corps, and merely co-operated with them, 
acting on his own responsibility and as occasion 
required. Governor Swain, in his communication to 
the University Magazine, or rather Judge Murphy, 
says that when Fanning and McNeill united for 
the purpose of striking sudden and effective blows, 
at remote and effective points, they commanded 
alternately day by day ; and this, we may suppose, 
was sometimes the fact, especially in the early part 
of their career, before Fanning had got much expe- 
rience, or had attained much celebrity ; but, accord- 
ing to the most reliable traditions I have heard, it 
was not a general or frequent thing ; for, I am told, 
that the Scotch would not fight under him, nor be 
commanded by him. They disliked his character, 
and all the better part of them abhorred his atroci- 
ties. In those days, 'tis said, they would not fight 
under any other than a Scotch commander ; and, on 
this occasion, they merely co-operated with him for 
the purpose of accomplishing the object. He was, 
no doubt, the life and soul of the business, and gave 
energy and success to the whole movement. His 
courage and military tact, which would have made 
him a prominent character anywhere, now gave him 
the virtual command ; and gained for him, in public 



204 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

estimation at least, the honor of tlio acliievement. 
Leaving "Dry Fork," the phace of their rendezvous, 
on the morning of September the 6th, and keeping 
their plans concealed, they commenced their march 
up the country and, receiving some small reinforce- 
ments as they advanced, Colonel Fanning joined 
them on or near Deep river. With the moral power 
of Fanning to urge them on, their movements were 
rapid and they met with no resistance from any 
quarter. 

So far from dreading any effective opposition, 
they were determined to fight their way, and actually 
cut off or routed the only collection of men who, by 
spreading the alarm and serving as a nucleus for an 
ingathering of "Whigs, could have given them any 
trouble. History, I believe, makes no mention of 
the skirmish at Kirk's farm ; yet it was quite a 
spirited affair, and is worthy of record. Captains 
Allen and Young, of Orange county, encamped for 
the night on Kirk's farm, on the east side of Haw 
river, and near East creek, where they were, as they 
supposed, many miles from any Tory force, and were 
apprehensive of no danger. Whether they were out 
on a voluntary excursion, or had belonged to Colonel 
Hinton's corps, which had been disbanded only a few 
days previous and were keeping together for mutual 
safety, until they could get into a stronger Whig 
neighborhood, we have not learned ; but they were 
only twenty or twenty-two in number. They were 
attacked by twenty-five or thirty ; and, as they were 
taken a little by surprise, the result was what might 



COL. DAVID FANNING. 205 

have been expected. Fanning, who appears to have 
been remarkable for the facility and accuracy with 
which he got information respecting every thing 
within the range of his operations, did not deem it 
necessary to go himself, but sent oflf a detachment 
under the command of Captain Richard Edwards. 
With characteristic boldness and rapidity of move- 
ment, they came up just as the day was dawning, 
and killed the sentinel, a man by the name of Couch, 
who had been posted at the end of the lane, then 
retreating a short distance to a thicket, where they 
lay in ambush, and awaited the movements of the 
other party. The killing of the sentinel gave the 
alarm at the house, and the party marched out under 
Captain Allen to give them battle, or rather to ascer- 
tain the cause of the alarm, when the Tories emerged 
from their concealment, and a severe conflict ensued, 
in which some important lives were lost on both sides, 
and others mortally wounded. Allen and Young 
were both severely wounded ; the former recovered, 
but the latter died of his wounds within a few days. 
Captain Edwards was killed on the spot; and ten 
were left dead on the field. Nearly a third of the 
whole number engaged were either killed or wounded; 
and some of the latter died of their wounds within a 
few days. I have given the main facts in this affair 
as I found them in McBride's memoranda; but that 
the assailants were a detachment from Tanning's 
corps, I infer from the following facts. It was just 
at the time when they were on their way to Ilills- 
boro', and was a very little off their route ; it was 

18 



206 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

not more than four or five days before the battle at 
Cane creek ; and the detachment was commanded by 
Richard Edwards, who was then a captain under 
Fanning. There were then in Fanning's corps three 
brothers by the name of Edwards — Richard, Edward 
and Meredith ; and two of them are known to have 
been in the skirmish at Kirk's farm. When Richard 
was killed, one of the others, Edward, we believe, 
took the command; and he is said to have been 
killed the next week at the battle of Cane creek. 
We simply state the facts, and leave the reader to 
form his own opinion. 

The capture of the Governor was one of the most 
remarkable feats of the Tories during the war, and 
one of the most memorable events in North Carolina. 
" On the first of September the battle was fought at 
McFall's Mills, on the Raft Swamp, and on the 13th, 
about daylight. Fanning and McNeill entered Hills- 
boro', the seat of government, by different roads, 
seized Governor Burke, his suite and other prominent 
persons, and proceeded with their usual celerity 
towards Wilmington." Having entered the town in 
opposite directions and by the dawn of day, before 
anybody was apprised of their coming, they were ena- 
bled to take nearly every man they wished ; but their 
first object was, of course, the Governor and suite. The 
jail guard, finding that the Governor was captured 
and perceiving their own danger, assumed the badge 
of their enemies, by substituting oats straw in their 
hats for their deer tails, and thus attempted to 
ride through the Tories in the streets ; but Fanning 



COL. DAVID FANNING. 207 

recognized them at once and cried out, " The rebels ! 
the rebels !" then rushing upon them -with the fury 
of a tiger, he broke his sword on the steel plate in the 
cap which was upon one of their heads. Having 
secured the Governor and all the prisoners they 
wanted, some of them engaged in drinking and rob- 
bing the stores. After plundering the town, their 
next move was to break open the jail and release the 
prisoners, but to remain long there was neither policy 
nor interest; and as Capt. John McLean did not 
drink, the prisoners were committed to his charge. 
Some of the men who engaged in plundering the 
stores became so drunk that they could not get away 
and had to be left behind. The Whigs then rallied, 
and they were taken prisoners. 

Among the prisoners were William Kinchen and 
Col. John Mebane ; but Col. Alexander Mebane made 
his escape by leaving a very valuable horse to the 
care of the enemy, and taking it on foot through the 
high weeds which had grown up very densely in the 
cross streets. Then returning to his home and 
friends, in the congregation of the Hawfields, with 
all the haste he could, he spread the alarm among 
the Whigs, and collected as many of them as could be 
got together on the spur of the occasion. General 
Butler who lived on the west side of the Congrega- 
tion near the place where Judge Ruffin's mill now 
stands, being notified, came and took command of 
the men. A much larger number might have been 
soon rallied for the rescue of the Governor ; for that 
was one of the strongest Whig neighborhoods east of 



208 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

the Yadkin ; but as Fanning was so notorious for the 
boldness and celerity of his movements, whatever was 
done had to be done with the utmost despatch. 
Having ascertained that the party with the Governor 
and suite in charge, were crossing the river and in- 
tended going down on the west side as the nearest 
and most expeditious route to the Tory region, their 
object was to get before them and occupy some favo- 
rable position. The ground at John Alston's mill, a 
little above or below what is now Lindley's, appeared 
the most suitable, and there they made their stand. 

The number engaged on either side is not known 
with any degree of certainty, but according to the 
best traditionary accounts, or those which seemed to 
be most worthy of credit, the Tories had about six 
hundred and the Whigs about three hundred, a little 
more or less. The Scotch say that they must have 
had about six hundred, for they had five hundred at 
the place of rendezvous, in the lower side of Moore 
county, and after they commenced their march, they 
received two or three accessions, of which Fanning's 
corps was one ; and we can hardly suppose that to 
have consisted of less than fifty or sixty. The night 
before the battle, old Colonel McNeill, who seems to 
have had the exclusive command, at least of the 
Scotch, on this expedition, had a presentiment, or 
what he regarded as a presentiment, of his death. 
We say nothing here about the reality of such im- 
pressions, nor, if real, about the source from which 
they come ; but his was by no means a solitary case 
of the kind. Officers of high standing in their pro- 



COL. davidJJfanning. 209 

fession and of undoubted courage, have often had, on 
the eve of a battle, such a presentiment or impression 
of their approaching fate, as to become depressed in 
spirits and comparatively inactive. Several such in- 
stances occurred on both sides, during the revolu- 
tionary war, and with men who could not be charged 
with idle fears or superstitious notions. Col. Mc- 
Neill, on this occasion, felt constrained to disclose 
the state of his mind to some of his friends who tried 
to laugh or reason him out of his sombre mood, but in 
vain. The brave old Hector who had witnessed more 
appalling scenes than the one now before him and 
had stood firm when a thousand deathful balls were 
flying around him, quailed when summoned, and so 
distinctly, as he supposed, to appear in the presence 
of his Maker, that there was no possibility of escape. 
He was not a man, however, who would bear the 
charge of cowardice, nor would he shrink from what 
he considered his duty on such an occasion. It was 
known that the Whigs were gathering and that they 
might expect a conflict in the course of the day ; but 
precisely when and where was entirely a matter of 
conjecture. In the morning, old Hector, like Ahab, 
King of Israel, when going up to battle at Ramoth 
Gilead, laid aside his regimentals, and appeared at 
the head of his men in disguise, clothed in a hunting 
shirt and other parts of dress corresponding, very 
much like a common soldier ; but his time was come 
and his destiny could not be changed. No disguise 
could conceal him from the eye of the Omniscient 
One, and no artifice could countervail his unerring 
18* 



210 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

purposes. It is easy for liim to conquer by many or 
by few, and "whatever may be the resources or appa- 
rent advantages of one over another, he controls 
every thing and gives the victory to whom he 
pleases. 

As the Tories were crossing the creek, and advanc- 
ing through a hollow or strip of low ground, along 
which the road led, the Whigs, from the brow of the 
hill, on the south side of the stream, gave them a de- 
liberate fire, and with tremendous effect. They were 
taken very much by surprise, and quite a number 
were killed and wounded, as they approached the 
stream, and before any danger was known or appre- 
hended. Captain McLean halted his men in the rear 
and they all sat down to rest. On hearing the first 
fire of the Whigs, Governor Burke, and most of the 
prisoners, jumped to their feet and looked about ; but 
the Captain told them to be quiet ; for if they at- 
tempted to escape they should every one be shot down ; 
and they had to obey. Colonel McNeill, on seeing 
so many of his men cut down by the first fire, and 
perceiving that if they continued to advance, it would 
be at a great sacrifice of life, ordered a retreat ; but 
McDougal cursed him, and asked him if he was not 
going to face his enemies — " Was that the encourage- 
ment he was giving to his men?" The order was 
then countermanded, and they attempted to proceed. 

At the next fire of the Whigs, five or six balls en- 
tered the Colonel's body, and he fell dead on the 
spot. So did several others, and many more were 
wounded. When he fell, some one thoughtlessly 



COL. DAVID FANNING. 211 

cried out, " The Colonel is dead.." " It's a lie," ex- 
claimed McDougal, in a bold strong voice. " Hurra, 
my boys, we'll gain the day yet." Ilis death was 
very prudently concealed, for many of the Scotch 
declared afterwards, that had it been known at the 
time, they would not have fired another gun, but 
would have sought for safety in any way they could. 
At this juncture, the principal officers got together 
for hasty counsel, or for the purpose of agreeing on 
some one to take the command ; but those highest in 
office all refused, and they seemed to be at their 
"wit's end." At length, some one said, "Perhaps 
McDougal will take the command;" and instantly 
every eye was turned to him, if not " imploringly," 
at least with a strong expression of assent. He ac- 
cepted ; and nobly did he meet the responsibilities 
which he had assumed. According to the traditions 
in this region, when McNeill fell, the command de- 
volved on Fanning, of course, as the one next highest 
in office ; but the traditionary accounts of the Scotch 
are different ; for, according to them, they w^ould not 
be commanded by him, and he would not be under 
any other. He was therefore regarded merely as a 
co-adjutor, responsible only to himself, and having 
the command of none except his own men ; but with 
them, as it appears, he actually did more, in a few 
minutes, to make an impression on his enemies, and 
arrest the tide of success, than all the rest effected 
with their veteran officers and military tactics, during 
the whole of the action. 

Amidst all this success on the part of the Whigs, 



212 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

and all this disaster and confusion among the Tories, 
Fanning contrived to cross the stream at another 
place, or to ascend the hill at another point ; and, 
by making a little circuit, attacked his enemies in the 
rear. Being thus taken by surprise, the Whigs were 
thrown into momentary confusion, but quickly reco- 
vered ; and, for a short time, the contest was fierce 
and bloody. Nearly every Whig who was killed 
during the action fell at this time, and in the course 
often or twelve minutes. The charge of Fanning 
was furious until his arm was broken by a rifle or 
musket ball, and he was carried off the field, when the 
next officer in rank, we suppose, took the command. 
Probably, it was on seeing this havoc made of the 
Whigs by this manoeuvre of Fanning's, and viewing 
their situation as now desperate, considering the dis- 
parity of numbers, that General Butler ordered a 
retreat, and commenced it himself. The men, in 
obedience to orders, were following his example, when 
Col. Robert Mebane got before them, and by argu- 
ments and remonstrances, so far inspired them with 
his own heroic spirit that enough of them returned to 
renew the battle and keep the ground. It seems to 
have been at last a drawn battle ; for neither party 
claimed the victory, and neither appears to have kept 
the ground for any length of time. The Tories were 
glad to get away with their prisoners, and the Whigs 
became willing to let them go. A few years ago, an old 
Quaker friend, who appeared to have been well in- 
formed on this subject, and whose powers, though he 
was then about fourscore, were unimpaired by age, told 



COL. DAVID FANNING. 213 

me that Col. McDougal, after lie took the command, 
came, under great excitement, and — to use his own 
language, — "in a foam of sweat," to the house in which 
the prisoners were then kept, and took an oath that if 
the Whigs did flank him, as they were trying to do, and 
drive him to extremities, he would put his prisoners 
all to death, before he would suffer them to be taken 
from him. Whether this determination became 
known to the Whigs at the time, and had any influ- 
ence in causing them to give up the contest, my in- 
formant could not tell ; but if they were apprised of 
it, we presume, they would prefer that their friends 
should remain prisoners, than that they should be shot, 
en.masse, by their captors. At all events, the battle 
appears to have ended by mutual consent, and both 
must have left the ground about the same time. The 
tradition among the Whigs, has been, that they kept 
the ground, and the tradition among the Tories, is 
that they kept it ; but neither could claim it on very 
decisive evidence ; and as the Whigs slowly withdrew 
or slackened their fire, the Tories, glad to get away, 
moved off with their prisoners towards Wilmington. 

Very little was known about the battle at Moore's 
creek, at least by the present generation, and very 
little was said about it, until recently. Within two or 
three years, some of our ablest men have given it 
their attention ; and since the facts have been 
brought to light, it is regarded as one of the most 
important events during the war. If some one who 
is competent to the task would undertake it, and 
fairly ascertain the facts in relation to the battle on 



214 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

. Cane creek, it would be found that there was quite 
as much military tact and courage displayed as at 
Moore's creek ; and, in proportion to the whole 
number engaged, there was certainly much more 
bloodshed and destruction of life. A more bold 
and deliberate act of courage is hardly on record 
than was done by Col. Robert Mebane in the hottest 
of the battle. In the midst of the conflict with 
Fanning, when the Whigs must have been nearly be- 
tween two fires, as the Scotch were advancing up the 
hill, they got out of ammunition and Mebane walked 
slowly along the line, carrying his hat full of powder 
and telling every man to take a handful, or just 
what he needed. The day was warm, the 14th of 
September, we suppose, and near the middle of the 
day, as the battle commenced about 10 o'clock ; and 
by wiping the sweat off his face with his hands, after 
handling the powder, when he got thro', his face was 
nearly as black as the powder itself. The precise 
number of killed and wounded is not known, and 
cannot be readily ascertained ; but it was rather 
larger, in proportion to the whole number than was 
usual in battles of that period. 

Neither Whigs nor Tories really kept the ground 
and attended to the burying of the dead ; but next 
morning the neighbors met there and buried thirty- 
two in one pit. Besides these, according to the 
concurrent tradition of both parties, many of the 
dead were carried away by their friends and buried 
in the neighborhood. Of the wounded, some of 
whom could get away themselves and others were 



COL. DAVID FANNING. 215 

carried away by their friends and acquaintances, a 
number are known to have died of their wounds, 
soon after. Between the foot of the hill and the creek, 
the dead and dying were strewed about in every 
direction, and some of them were lying in the water. 
One of the Scotch companies, the one under the 
command of Capt.^ Archibald M'Kay, had six killed 
on the ground and twenty-six wounded ; some other 
companies suffered equally as much and hardly any 
of them escaped entirely. Some of Fanning's men 
were killed ; but he was so rapid in his movements 
and made such havoc wherever he went that his corps 
suffered less than the others. The Whigs, too, lost 
many, and some valuable lives; but, according to 
their traditionary accounts, not so many, even in 
proportion to their number, as the Tories. A friend, 
in writing to me from the Scotch region, says, that 
" including all of both sides w^ho were slain on the 
field, and all who died soon after in consequence of 
their wounds, the number could not be much under a 
hundred;" and this estimate, which looks quite reason- 
able, taking everything into view, we suppose to be 
not far from the truth. 

Several of the highest officers on both sides were 
killed and nearly an equal number of each. These 
were men of much merit as officers, and their death 
was a great loss to their respective parties. On the 
Whig side Major John Nails and Colonel Lutteral 
were among the slain. In the Scotch traditions I 
find that Nails has the rank of Colonel assigned to 
him ; but I have never heard him called, in this 



216 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

region, any thing but Captain or Major Nails ; and 
as the latter seemed to be more frequently applied to 
him than the former, I have given him that title. 
He was killed near the close of the battle by a Tory 
who singled him out with his rifle and shot him dead 
on the spot. Having done so, and seeing three of 
the Whigs sitting on their horses at a little distance, 
whom he mistook for his own party, he galloped up 
towards them, and as he approached called out, " I 
have just killed Major Nails;" but the words were 
hardly out of his mouth until three pistol balls 
entered his heart, and he fell dead. Nails left a 
widow and family of young children. On every 
account he was much esteemed in Chatham county 
where he lived ; and as an officer he was highly 
valued. Vigilant, enterprising and rapid in his 
movements, he was dreaded by the Tories. Colonel 
Lutteral was also killed about the close of the battle 
and was a great loss to the country. He is said to 
have been a brave and valuable officer ; but his men 
thought him too severe in his discipline; and this may 
have given rise to a tradition in the neighborhood of 
the battle-ground that he was killed after the battle 
was over by a Whig, a man by the name of Frazer. 
According to this account, he rode back after both 
parties had gone away, to look over the scene or 
to ascertain the number of killed and wounded. On 
seeing Frazer, then the only man on the ground and 
mistaking him for a Tory, rode up and fired at him 
with his pistol but without eifect. Frazer then 
levelled his rifle and shot him thro' the body. He 



COL, DAVID FANNING. 217 

did not fall at once, but rode to a house, something 
like a mile off, where he lived only a few hours, and 
was next day laid in the burying ground of a neigh- 
boring church. The Tory account is more plausible, 
because it is coroborated by other circumstances, and 
is as follows. Having advanced at the head of his 
men within pistol shot of a Tory from Randolph, by 
the name of Rains, who was in the act of loading 
his rifle, and fired at him with his pistol, but without 
effect. He then wheeled his horse, and dashed off, to 
get out of reach before the other would be ready to 
fire; but Rains, having finished in time, levelled his 
gun at him, when at full speed, and shot him through 
the body. He did not fall, but rode to a house about 
half a mile distant, where the good people took him 
up stairs and furnished him with a bed and every 
comfort in their power. While lying there, bleeding 
and dying, he dipped his finger in his own blood and 
wrote his name upon the wall. The house stood there 
as a Monument of the Cane creek battle and of 
Colonel Lutteral's death until about seven or eight 
years ago ; and the Colonel's name retained its fresh- 
ness and brilliancy until the last. There were two 
men belonging to Fanning's troop by the name of 
John Rains, father and son ; and McBride says that 
John Rains Sen., was killed at the battle of Cane 
creek. If it was he who killed Nails the accounts 
would be consistent ; and it is possible that the 
Scotch while they have correctly preserved the facts 
have unwittingly confounded the names. 

On the Tory side, two oflBcers in Fanning's corps 
19 



218 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

are known to have been killed, John Rains and Ed- 
ward Edwards. The latter had been a lieutenant be- 
fore, as we infer, and took the place of his brother Rich- 
ard, who was killed at Kirk's farm, the week before. It 
is probable that he still commanded the same company 
or troop at Cane creek, and there met the same fate. 
Of the Scotch division, Colonel McNeill, the veteran 
soldier and the brave officer, fell at the second fire ; 
and the promising and much beloved Col. Dushee 
Shaw lay at his side. He was a mere youth, but 
seemed to have all the manliness of mature age. 
Modest and unassuming, but firm and sagacious, pol- 
ished in his manners, heroic in his spirit and chival- 
rous in his bearing, he was the very idol of his 
friends and there was great lamentation for his death. 
They left thirty-one of their number on the ground, 
who were too badly wounded to be removed ; but 
they were nursed and cared for, some by the neigh- 
bors and some by their friends from a distance, who 
came and stayed with them until they died or had 
sufficiently recovered to go home. Among the 
wounded who were thus left, was Malcolm Downey, 
whose sister, Mrs. Neill Murphy, walked all the way 
up to Cane creek from Robeson county, some seventy- 
five or eighty miles, and nursed him until he expired. 
She was the mother of the Rev. Murdoch Murphy, 
deceased, and the Honorable John Murphy, late Go- 
vernor of Alabama. Other instances of a similar 
kind might be related ; but we will let one suffice for 
many. Such women deserve to be remembered and 
to be held up as examples of firmness in times of 



COL. DAVID FANNING. 219 

peril, and of devotedness to the cause of suffering 
humanity. 

At such a time, no respect is paid to a man's 
opinions however honestly entertained ; and but little 
allowance is made for his inoffensiveness or inactivity 
in the cause which he approves. Force is everything, 
and wherever that can prevail, conscience and every- 
thing else is disregarded. There were two brothers 
by the name of James Torry and George Torry, who 
were Tories, and had been with the Tories previous 
to this battle, but their brother David Torry, was a 
Whig, and had hitherto staid at home. At length, 
however, he was taken prisoner with Hugh Laskly, 
and they were both in a manner, forced to join this 
expedition to Hillsboro', at least they were induced 
to do it against their judgment and all their principles 
of patriotism, rather than be sent to the prison ships 
at Wilmington, and they were both among the 
wounded at the battle of Cane creek, but whether both 
or either of them died I have not learned. Probably 
there were other cases of a similar kind, but such 
compulsory measures, which are an intolerable hard- 
ship, belong exclusively to a state of civil war. 

A Tory who was mortally wounded in the battle 
gave his watch to the miller on condition that he 
would bury him when dead ; and the miller fulfilled 
his promise, but a brother Tory, on learning that the 
miller had the watch, went and took it from him. 
Another of the Tories was found dead next morning, 
about a quarter of a mile from the place of action, 
on his feet or apparently supported by his feet, and 



i!20 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

leaning against a tree, but without any wound that 
couUl possibly have caused his death. It was gene- 
rally believed that he had died of fright ; but his 
death might have been occasioned by apoplexy, an 
affection of the heart, or something else. 

On the evening of the battle, or very soon after, a 
lady by the name of Lindley, wife of Simon Lindley, 
was shot dead in the road by some one lying in am- 
bush, and it was believed to have been done by her 
own husband. Some W^^ig^ happened to be near 
enough to hear the report of the gun, and led by^ a 
curiosity or a suspicion that something was wrong, 
came up immediately to see what it meant. The lady 
had a child at the breast, and when they found her 
the child was trying to suck. That child was after- 
wards removed to Howard county, Indiana, and has 
left a large family. So strong was their suspicion of 
Lindley's guilt, that some of them instantly went in 
pursuit and soon took him prisoner. They brought 
him to a house which was close by and set one of their 
number to guard him for a short time, until the rest 
could determine what they would do with him. It 
was rather suspected, though there was no proof of 
the fact, that the guard had given him an opportunity 
to run, and he took through the orchard between J. 
Newlin's and William Johnson's. However, the 
alarm was given and the rest all ran round the house 
to see what was the matter. One of them shot in 
the direction pointed out by the guard as the one 
which Lindley had taken, and killed him without 
seeing him. The load of shot struck an apple tree, 



COL. DAVID FANNING. 221 

and one of the shot glancing off, perchance, struck 
LIndley in a vital part and killed him on the spot. 
It was belived that he, having become apprehensive 
that she would betray him, had waylaid her and killed 
her ; but he having been killed so soon after, without 
any investigation of the case, it was impossible to as- 
certain the truth by any ordinary process. Such is 
the tradition of the neighborhood. 

The most cowardly are the most anxious to be 
thought brave ; and those who least deserve honors 
are the most proud of them. At the commencement 
of the battle, there was a man present from the 

immediate neighborhood, by the name of , 

who was an arrant coward, but who had, not long 
before, got the office or the title of Captain conferred 
upon him. Whether it was real or only nominal, I 
did not learn. Probably it was a kind of militia 
appointment by his Tory neighbors ; but he was so 
proud of it that for some time he had made his wife 
always call him Captain, As soon as the action 
commenced, he became very much frightened and 
took to his heels. Two or three Whigs pursued him 
and would have overtaken him, if he had not sud- 
denly disappeared in a way which seemed to them 
rather mysterious. Near the mill was a long, high 
rock which, at the lower end, terminated in a pre- 
cipice some twenty feet high. At the base there 
was a shelving under, or a recess of some kind, 
which made a very comfortable hog bed in the win- 
ter, and in which a man, if fairly ensconced there, 

could not be seen except from the ground on one 
19* 



222 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

side. As this was the only direction he could take, 
or the only one in which the danger would not be as 
great as where he was, he took the rock, and two or 
three Whigs pursued him to the far end, when he 
jumped down the precipice and disappeared. His 
pursuers went to the edge of the precipice^nd looked 
down, then off on every side without getting a glimpse 
of him ; and, concluding that it was not worth while 
to spend time in the search, they returned to the 
scene of conflict. In the afternoon, when he thought 
the danger was over, he went home, and entered the 
house with a very distressed countenance, looking 
pale, and so weak that he could hardly walk. His 
wife, with surprise and alarm, said to him, " Why, 
Captain, what in the world is the matter with you, 
that you look so bad?" "0," said he, "don't call 
me Captain any more. I am a poor wounded man, 
shot through and though, and the blood is running 
desperately." Of course, she ran up to him in a 
perfect fright, and began to open his clothes, in order 
to see the wounds, and do what she could for him, but 
to her great mortification, she soon found that it was 
not blood; and that was the end of his military 
career, as effectually as if he had been shot through 
the heart. 

A friend in the Scotch region, the son of a very 
respectable Whig officer during the war, writes to 
me that, as he has been credibly informed, he thinks 
the Tories had two brass cannon at Cane creek ; but, 
owing to the advantageous position of the Whigs, 
they could make no use of them until they got on 



COL. DAVID FANNING. 223 

the high ground. If they had cannon, it is prohable 
that they had captured it with the Governor in Hills- 
boro' ; and such I believe is the traditionary account.* 
By the desperate attack which Fanning made on the 
rear of the Whigs, such a diversion or confusion was 
produced that the Scotch at length got up the hill ; 
but they had been so roughly handled and so many 
of their best officers and men had been either killed 
or wounded, that they were more anxious to get 
away than to fight ; and the Whigs tacitly, though 

* The following song, which was made by some one of the corps, 
not long after the battle, was sent to me by my correspondent in 
that region, so often alluded to already, who says that he wrote 
it down as it was repeated to him, not long since, by an aged 
Whig. It corroborates the suggestion made awhile ago that the 
cannon were taken from Hillsboro' ; and the tradition that they 
were thrown into Lindley's mill pond, may be true. At all 
events, it deserves some attention ; and it is to be hoped that a 
thorough search will be made. 

" The Governor and Council in Hillsboro' sought, 

To establish some new laws the Tories to stop ; 

They thought themselves safe, and so went on with their show, 

But the face of bold Fanning proved their overthrow. 

We took Governor Burke with a sudden surprise, 

As he sat on horseback and just ready to ride ; 

We took all their cannon and colors in town. 

And formed our brave boys and marched out of town ; 

But the rebels waylaid us and gave us a broadside, 

That caused our brave Colonel to lie dead on his side ; 

The flower of our company was wounded full sore, 

'Twas Captain McNeill and two or three more. 

The Captain McNeill who is mentioned in the song as having 
been wounded, was Captain Neill McNeill, from upper Little 
river, in Cumberland county. 



224 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

reluctantly, consented to let them go. When they 
drew off from the scene of conflict, they turned to 
the east and kept down the stream until they came 
to what is now known as Lindley's mill ; where a 
few of the Whigs having rallied, they had another 
little skirmish, and to get clear of an incumbrance, 
they threw their cannon into the pond, where, it is 
supposed, they might yet be found if a proper search 
were made. Expedition was a paramount object 
with them ; for a little delay would give the Whigs 
time to rally, and in such numbers, that they could 
not only rescue the prisoners, but take them too. 
As they had engaged in the expedition, not to fight, 
unless it was unavoidable, but to capture the Go- 
vernor and as many of the most active patriots as 
they could, victory was no object any farther than it 
was necessary to secure their retreat. It was there- 
fore necessary to disencumber themselves of every 
thing that could impede their march, and to act 
altogether on the defensive. They had made a fine 
haul and had got a number of "big fish." Their 
great concern now was to get them safely delivered 
to the British authorities in Wilmington; and for 
this purpose they would either fight or run as circum- 
stances might require. This would surely recommend 
them to the king; and, when the rebels were sub- 
dued, give them a pre-eminence in the country. A 
defeat by the Whigs, any encounter with whom was 
not sought but dreaded, would have blasted all their 
hopes and been a source of intense and enduring 
mortification. 



COL. DAVID FANNING. "SlO 

A few of the Whigs, a dozen or twenty in num- 
ber, did make some show of resistance on the even- 
ing of the battle or next morning, at a place a few 
miles below and not far from the foot of the Hickory 
mountain ; but they were so few that they were soon 
dispersed, and after that the way was clear. They 
soon got over Deep river, into the Tory region, 
where nearly every man was rejoiced at their suc- 
cess, and was ready to lend them a succoring hand 
and bid them God speed. 



PURSUED BY GENERAL BUTLER. 

It is stated in Wheeler's history of North Carolina 
that " General Butler endeavoured to intercept them 
with a superior force, and did so at Lindley's mill on 
Cane creek, where an engagement took place on the 
following day." I presume the author had some 
good authority for the statement, and I would be 
glad he had given it, for my information has been 
diflferent, and if that was wrong I would like to have it 
corrected. According to my information, the battle 
was not at Lindley's mill, but at old Jack Alston's, a 
little above ; when the Tories arrived at Lindley's mill 
on their retreat, a few of the Whigs had rallied there 
and a small skirmish ensued ; but it was only a little 
brush on their rear or their flanks. Now if General 
Butler had a superior force in the engagement on 
Cane creek why did he not gain the victory. He 
had the advantage of the ground, and he was not, like 



226 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

the others, encumbered with prisoners or'any thing 
else. To suppose then that having these advantages, 
a superiority of numbers, a more eligible position 
and freedom from any encumbrance, while his 
enemies were inferior in number, occupied an 
unfavorable position and had a large number of 
prisoners to guard, after all he let them get away 
with their prisoners ; would be disreputable to Gene- 
ral Butler and to the men who fought so bravely on 
that occasion, or if by some untoward occurence, 
they did elude his grasp in the first engagement, as 
he was superior in numbers and unincumbered, why 
did he not pursue them and intercept them at some 
point below — Perhaps my information has been 
wrong, but according to the most reliable accounts 
which I have always had from both sides, the Tories 
outnumbered the Whigs at least two to one ; and I 
recollect no conflict of the kind during the war in 
which there was more real bravery displayed or 
which reflected more credit upon the Whigs than the 
one on Cane creek, except, perhaps, the one at Ran- 
sour's mill, and if the Tories on that occasion had been 
commanded by such a Tartar as Colonel Fanning, or 
if he had been there at the head of his Saracen corps 
with his daring courage, his rapidity of motion and 
his quick perception of whatever advantage might be 
taken, the result would probably have been very 
diff'erent. I have been thus particular in my account 
of the battle on Cane creek, one of the most impor- 
tant events in Fanning's career and one of the most 
calamitous to the country, — with the hope that 



COL. DAVID FANNING. 227 

some one who is competent to the task will take it 
up and give it a more thorough investigation. 

It has been stated that when old Col. Hector 
fell in the battle, some of the officers denied that he 
was dead, probably making the men believe that he 
was only wounded; and, for the time being, they 
put McDougal in his place. After leaving Cane 
creek, in order to keep up the delusion, they appoint- 
ed to the command another of the same name. 
Hector McNeill, son of Archibald and Jennet 
(Ban). Having afterwards lost an eye, he was 
known in subsequent life, by the name of " one eyed 
Hector," but at this time, as he had not yet lost his 
eye, he appears to have filled the place quite respect- 
ably. From Cane creek, they went directly to their 
head-quarters on the Raft Swamp, and after crossing 
Deep river they stayed all night at the house of Mr. 
McRae, father of the present Collin McRae, Esq., who 
gives the following account of their visit: "My 
father lived on Deep river. My mother's maiden 
name was Burke. When the Governor of that name 
was taken prisoner at Hillsboro', by Fanning and his 
company, they stopped at our house all night on 
their way to Wilmington. The Governor was put 
into an additional apartment, at the end of the house, 
and there closely quartered. Our bag of meal was 
seized and cooked immediately; and, having been 
previously robbed, my mother had no bed clothes, 
except one cotton sheet, which was carefully wrapped 
round my infant brother, John, by his mother's side. 
One of the company seized hold of one corner of 



228 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

tliis sheet and continued to jerk and shake it until 
the infant rolled out on the floor. By way of retalia- 
tion, my mother made some attempts before day to 
let her namesake, the Governor, escape, but without 
success." 

The Governor appears to have been treated with 
as much courtesy, and to have had his situation made 
as comfortable on the road, as could be expected. 
After leaving Cane creek a few miles, and finding 
that the Whigs were not pursuing them, Capt. John 
McLean, who had the prisoners in charge, dismount- 
ed and asked the Governor to ride his horse. He 
replied, " I am your prisoner, sir, and must expect 
to fare as a prisoner," but McLean insisted, and the 
Governor mounted his horse. The captain then took 
it on foot, but soon obtained another horse. Capt. 
Ncill McFall, or, according to the Scotch orthography, 
McPhaul, lived on the Raft Swamp, and kept a mill. 
Ilis house was head-quarters for the Tories all over 
that region, and was the place of rendezvous before 
and after every expedition in which the different 
corps united. When they arrived at McFall's with 
the Governor, the prisoners were all given in charge 
to Colonel Ray, and a detatchment of men sufficient 
for the purpose was assigned him. He conducted them 
to Wilmington and delivered them to Major Craig; 
but most of the men remained at McFall's. In a 
few days before Colonel Ray had returned with his 
detachment, and after Fanning, with his corps, had 
left, they mustered three hundred strong and were 
drilled by Colonels McDougal and McNeill, on the 



)i 



COL. DAVID FANNING. 229 

plantation now owned or occupied by Mrs. Bethea, 
near Floral College. This is another collateral proof 
that the force with which they encountered the Whigs 
on Cane creek, has not been overrated on a former 
page; and that the conflict, which these patriotic 
men had to maintain on that momentous occasion, 
was something more than mere play. 

Word had been sent to Major Craig, probably by 
express, that they had succeeded in capturing the 
Governor, with a number of other prominent Whigs, 
and that they would be there by such a time. A 
troop of cavalry was sent out to meet them and 
escort them back to town. A few miles below Eliza- 
bethtown, about Hammond's creek, they were met by 
this troop, and as they were approaching, Governor 
Burke said to the officers and men around him, 
'' Now, gentlemen, I am your prisoner. Heretofore 
I had hopes of being released, and, therefore, I did 
not feel like a prisoner ; but now I feel that I am 
indeed your prisoner." He had hitherto entertained 
the hope that General Butler would overtake them, 
and be able to effect his rescue ; but he was sadly 
disappointed. General Butler did pursue them, and 
probably with an augmented force, for, as the Tories 
out numbered him on Cane creek, it was very natural 
that, when about to pursue them, he should increase 
his strength by hasty drafts, or by volunteer com- 
panies ; and, a few years ago, the writer became 
acquainted with one or two old and respectable men, 
in Caswell county, who were with Butler on this 
expedition, but had not been at the battle. It is not 
20 



230 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

at all unlikely, therefore, that at this time he did 
have a force superior to that of the Tories ; but he 
did not overtake them and never had a regular en- 
gagement with them. According to the traditionary 
accounts in that region, he was taken by surprise 
one night and made a hasty retreat. Colonel Ray, 
after remaining two or three days in Wilmington to 
rest and refresh his men, was on the return home 
with his detachment, when he came upon Butler's 
camp, on Hammond's creek, while they were all 
asleep, and fired upon them. A few were killed, 
probably the sentinels, and some others were wound- 
ed. Such an attack, made with spirit and in the 
dead hour of the night, took them by such a surprise 
that they sought safety in the best way they could. 
A few evenings after he had a skirmish with another 
body of Tories, and some British troops. This was 
quite a spirited affair for a short time, but was soon 
over. General Butler ordered a retreat after the 
first fire, under a mistaken apprehension that the 
enemy had artillery, of which he was destitute ; but 
Col. Robert Mebane, who belonged to his command, 
rallied as many men as he could and continued the 
conflict. Colonel Thomas Owen, father of General 
Owen, and of the late Governor Owen, was there, 
and, as General Owen informed me, took the chief 
command. The two colonels made quite a manly 
resistance for a while, but were overpowered and 
compelled to yield the ground. The whole affair 
was one of small importance, and the circumstances 
are not well known. Whether it was owing: to the 



COL. DAVID FANNING. 231 

want of good generalship or to some untoward occur- 
rences, we do not know ; but the Governor was not 
rescued, and the expedition was not signalized by any- 
important achievement. 

With his laurels all fresh upon him, and greatly 
increased by his recent exploit, as soon as his 
prisoners were safely delivered, or carried beyond 
the reach of their pursuers. Fanning returned to his 
old range, and pursued the same course of rapine, 
murder and devastation. During the last three 
months, his movements had been rapid; his plans 
bold and daring ; and in every conflict he had come 
off victorious. Few men, with the same amount of 
force, have ever accomplished more in the same length 
of time : but after the British were driven from 
North and South Carolina, and after the army under 
Lord Cornwallis had surrendered to General Wash- 
ington, at Yorktown, the prospects of the loyalists 
here, as well as every where else, became more and 
more gloomy, and their operations, if not less atro- 
cious, were neither so bold nor so extensive. Fan- 
ning, however, had a considerable number who 
followed his fortunes and adhered to him with great 
fidelity to the last. With these, he was a terror to 
the whole country ; for as his fortunes waned and his 
prospects darkened, he became more vindictive and 
more of the cut-throat assassin. Generally he kept 
his head-quarters on the south side of Deep river, 
and about Cross-hill, where he was in such a Tory 
region that he felt secure from any sudden attack of 
his enemies ; but sometimes he had his camp on the 



232 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

north side of the river, and when he and his men 
were not out on some expedition, they employed 
their time in horse-racing, gambling, and such sports 
as were most congenial to their dispositions. The 
place where he had his camp for sometime, on the west 
side of Chatham county, and not far from the pres- 
ent residence of Doctor Chalmers, is still known by 
the name of '^ Fanning' s race paths ;'' but we pre- 
sume that no gentleman, with even a moderate share 
of honorable feeling, however much he might delight 
in the amusements of the turf, would now think of 
using them for that purpose! From the last of 
September, 1781, until some time in the summer of 
1782, a great many murders and atrocities were 
committed by Fanning, or by his orders, along 
Deep river and for some miles on the north side, the 
dates and minute circumstances of which cannot be 
now ascertained. Many have been forgotten, or 
rather have not been sought for by any one who 
was competent and had leisure or opportunity to 
write them off, and throw them into the common 
stock of public information; for they still exist in 
the traditions of the country; and enough might be 
obtained to make a moderate sized volume of pleas- 
ant reading, at least for the young people of the 
country, at their fire-sides in the long winter evenings. 
We shall therefore relate a few of these, and give the 
best account of them we can, but without dates or 
chronological order, except in one or two instances, 
of deep and abiding interest, in which we have been 
fortunate enough to obtain the date from letters writ- 



COL. DAVID FANNING. 233 

ten at the time, or shortly after, by persons who 
were eye-witnesses of what they related, or had 
authentic and certain information. 



MISCELLANEOUS DEEDS OF ATROCITY. 

In the fall of 1781, and while Fanning still had a 
respectable number of followers. Captain John Coxe, 
who was a firm Whig, and lived, if I mistake not, in 
the north side of Cumberland county, not far from 
the river, went up into Chatham with a small com- 
pany of men, and took up camp for the night at the 
house of a man by the name of Needham. Fanning 
having been informed of this movement by some of 
his friends, went in pursuit with his whole corps and 
arrived there before midnight. Having tied their 
horses in a thicket, at a little distance from the house, 
they rushed up and fired on Coxe and his party before 
they were properly aware of their danger, or could 
make any preparation for defence. As none of them 
were killed, however, they all broke and run without 
their horses, or any thing else except their guns, 
which, in those times, every man who had taken up 
arms at all in defence of his country, always kept in 
his hand when awake, or by his side when asleep ; but 
fortunately, a part of them, in taking their course 
from the camp at random, happened to run by the 
place where Fanning and his party had tied their 
horses ; and with great alacrity and promptness, they 
all helped themselves to horses, each one taking, with- 
out leave or license, the first horse he could get, as, 
20* 



234 REVOLUTIONxUlY INClDExNTS. 

they say, members of Congress now take hats when 
leaving a President's levee ; and then they all made 
tracks a little faster than they could have done on 
their own stumps. 

On the second day after this occurrence, Fanning 
and his whole troop went down to John Coxe's house 
and encamped there for the night. Next morning 
they plundered it and burned it to the ground, and 
destroyed every thing else on the premises that was 
destructable. John Coxe, of course, kept out of the 
way himself, but sent a messenger privately to his 
father, informing him of all that had happened. From 
this scene of desolation, Fanning, with the whole of 
his banditti, went to the house of the old man Coxe 
for a similar purpose ; and, when they arrived on the 
premises, John Coxe, William Jackson, and Robert 
Loe were at the house ; but they heard the sound of 
the horses' feet, or got some intimation of their com- 
ing in time to make their escape, and they were for- 
tunate enough to get away with so much adroitness, 
or in such good time, that neither Fanning nor any 
of his men, with all their vigilance and sagacity, had 
any suspicion of their having been there. Thus left, 
they had free scope for their rapacious and burning 
propensities, without let or hindrance ; and they were 
not slow to improve their time. 

While they were thus engaged, John Coxe and his 
comrades, who were still lingering within a short dis- 
tance, as if unwilling to abandon every thing to their 
enemies, or perhaps wishing to witness what was done, 
so that if the time of retribution should ever come, 



COL. DAVID FANNING. 235 

they might know what to do, agreed that they would 
go back as near as they could for safety, and while 
they kept themselves out of harm's way, might be 
able to see what was doing ; but their curiosity, or an 
over confidence in their own activity, led them a little 
too far. Men who were engaged in a work so atro- 
cious and had made themselves so odious to the com- 
munity, were obliged to be always on the look out, 
and always prepared for any emergency. While the 
most of them were engaged in burning and plunder- 
ing, a few were off at a little distance, as sentinels, 
looking and listening in every direction ; and either 
hearing a noise, or getting a glimpse of these men, 
they gave Fanning notice. Instantly he and a few 
others, mounting their horses, dashed off in pursuit, 
and soon overtook them. When they came in sight, 
the three men fled in as many different directions ; 
and Fanning, with one of his men, pursued Jackson, 
who ran down towards the Juniper. The other man 
shot first, and wounded him in the back. Fanning 
then fired and broke his arm ; but the ball passing 
through the arm, entered his body and he fell dead. 
Robert Loe took a pathway up the ridge ; but Stephen 
Walker, one of the most cruel and blood-thirsty men 
in Fanning's whole corps, pursued him ; and, having 
overtaken him about a mile from old Coxe's house, 
brought him back. Fanning ordered him to be shot, 
but as he was not killed by the first fire, he pulled 
out his own pistol and shot him dead. One of the 
men followed John Coxe, who aimed for the low 
grounds of McLinden's creek ; but when his pursuer 



236 EEVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

had got near enough to shoot and was just in the act 
of shooting, his horse stumbled and fell to the ground. 
By the time the horse had recovered sufficiently to 
continue the pursuit, Coxe was out of sight ; and by 
this fortunate occurrence his life was saved. Robert 
Loe had been one of Fanning's corps ; but, for some 
reason or other, not known to the writer, he had left 
him and joined the Whigs. Knowing from the cha- 
racter of Fanning, what would be the consequence if 
he was ever taken, he ought to have been more 
guarded and not to have put himself under the very 
paw of the lion, but he showed no more rashness than 
was then common in the country ; for such is the 
effect of familiarity with danger that people become 
reckless , and his fate was not very different from 
that of many others. 

According to the traditions of the country, this 
Stephen Walker was a man of most unenviable 
notoriety, a perfect ruffian, a cold blooded murderer, 
who had no feelings of humanity, no sense of honor 
and no respect for moral worth. Many years ago, 
I was told by an old man in Randolph, that, making 
an excursion one night for the purpose, he shot a 
Baptist preacher dead in his own house, in the 
presence of his family and when begging for his life, 
without any sort of provocation or pretext, except 
that the preacher was a Whig and had used his 
influence, which was considerable, in favor of inde- 
pendence. This is only a specimen of his atrocities ; 
and no wonder that his name was a terror wherever 
it was known. 



COL. DAVID FANNING. 237 



CAPTURE OF JAMES HARDING. 

If a man's character is tested by the presence of 
danger, his wisdom is evinced by avoiding the strata- 
gems and counteracting the plans of his enemies. 
Both are necessary in war and especially in such a 
civil war as raged for some time in this country, 
when a man's foes were often his nearest neighbors 
and sometimes even those of his own house ; nor is it 
easy to say. which is the most important or the most 
worthy of admiration. Sometimes, the one is especi- 
ally called for and sometimes the other ; but we feel 
the highest gratification, and are most hearty in our 
commendation, when we find them both combined in 
the same man. We had then many such in our 
country, of every rank, from the commander-in-chief 
down to the humblest citizen ; and as every one ought 
to have the credit which he deserves, when we find 
such a man, however humble his station, we take a 
pleasure in giving his name to "the historic muse." 
Nine or ten years ago an old gentlemen who had 
spent all his life in the neighborhood where the 
occurrence took place, and who had some recollection 
of those times, gave me in substance, the following 
account. There lived at this time, on the south 
side of Deep river and near the mouth of Bear creek, 
a man by the name of James Harding, who was a 
Whig and a man of a fearless spirit, bold in his 
address, frank in his manners and very prompt to 
use his tongue or his hand as occasion required. Of 



238 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

course, he was the more obnoxious to Fanning, who 
had sworn that, if he ever got him in his power, he 
would take his life ; and, being aware of this, he was 
usually on his guard ; but it so happened one day 
that a scouting party, when ranging through the 
neighborhood, unexpectedly came upon him ; and 
taking him prisoner, carried him to head-quarters. 
He showed no apprehension of consequences and no 
unwillingness to go with them ; but his captors were 
rather surprised to find him as sociable and pleasant 
as they could wish. They expected nothing else, and 
they thought that he could expect nothing else, than 
that he would be put to death as soon as they got 
to camp, yet he was serene and cheerful. 

On entering the encampment. Fanning was much 
gratified with their success and with the thought 
that he now had it in his power to exterminate one 
whom he regarded as a hateful if not a formidable 
enemy. Harding, however, did not give him time 
to do any thing nor even to say what he intended to 
do ; for he knew all that beforehand ; but, walking 
up to him, with an air of perfect nonchalance^ took 
him by the hand with much apparent cordiality and 
told him how glad he was of having an opportunity 
of joining his standard. He told Fanning that it 
had been his wish for some time to leave the Whigs 
and come over to him ; but that no opportunity had 
occurred before of doing it with safety. Now he 
had got there and he hoped he would not be a drone 
in the camp. Fanning looked him full in the face 
all the time ; but, notwithstanding his sagacity and 



COL. DAVID FANNING. 239 

his skill in reading the countenances of people, he 
could detect no insincerity, either in the tones of his 
voice or the expression of the eye. So well did 
Harding act his part, and so complete was the de- 
ception which he practised, that Fanning gave him a 
friendly reception and a cordial welcome. From 
the first, he made as free with the men in camp as 
if they had been bosom friends and boon companions 
all their life. He joked with them, eat and slept 
with them, and in every respect, they were all Jack 
fellow alike. 

By a similar course of familiarity and apparent 
frankness, he effectually conciliated Fanning, who 
laid aside every thing like mistrust or reserve, and 
made him a kind of confident. In fact, from his 
known character for boldness and enterprise, they 
all felt rather proud of the fancied acquisition which 
they had made ; nothing was concealed ; and no sus- 
picions were harbored. If his feelings were harassed 
by the recitals of their murders and house-burnings 
among the Whigs, he kept it to himself; and all 
seemed to be perfectly smooth and right. Of the 
morals and religious character of Harding we know 
nothing ; but whatever they were, he no doubt felt 
that he was in the hands of a man who had little 
claim on him or any body else for truth and fairness. 
He knew well that with such a man as Fanning when 
the object of his sworn vengeance was before him, 
an open, manly course would be certain death; and 
he probably thought that if he could foil him with 
his own weapons, and by any stratagem effect his 



240 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

destruction, or impair his strength, he would be 
diminishing the sufferings of his country and doing 
so much to aid the triumph of freedom. 

Accordingly, when he found that he had Fanning's 
confidence, he remarked to him, as they were speak- 
ing of some meditated excursion, that he could put 
him on a plan by which he might capture a company 
of Whigs on the other side of the river, at the same 
time mentioning what company it was, or who was the 
Captain ; but he said it would be necessary that he 
should go over first and make the arrangements, by 
getting their consent to meet him on a given night 
and at a particular ford on the river, which was, of 
course, well known to Fanning : when he had made 
the arrangements he was to return to camp and con- 
duct them to the place. Fanning, pleased with the 
proposal, gave it his sanction; and, not suspecting 
any trick or unfair play, mounted Harding and sent 
him off with his usual benediction. When he met 
with his Whig friends, he made an arrangement 
with them very different from that which his Tory 
friends expected. They were to lie in ambush on 
the next night and near a specified ford on the river. 
A signal was agreed upon, which was so simple 
as not to excite the suspicion of Fanning or his 
men until Harding could get out of their reach ; 
and, on giving the signal, they were to rush upon 
their enemies. The ford, being only a neighborhood 
ford, was a little rocky and diflScult to cross. The 
banks were steep, especially the one on the north 
side ; and the way was so narrow that not more than 



COL. DAVID FANNING. 241 

two could ride abreast. Having made his arrange- 
ments, he returned to head quarters and found all 
right. 

His account of matters was satisfactory, and at 
the proper time they all set off. Fanning and Hard- 
ing in front, and all in good spirits. They arrived 
at the river about the appointed time and took the 
ford. Some had crossed and were on level ground ; 
some were plodding their way among the rocks ; and 
some were ascending the bank. Harding then gave 
the signal and was answered by his friends to let 
him know that they were there. At the same instant 
he dashed towards them and fell into their ranks, 
when they all rushed forward and poured a heavy 
fire on their deluded enemies. All was confusion, 
and for a moment the utmost consternation pre- 
vailed. Such a scene as followed can be better con- 
ceived than described ; and I shall leave it to the 
imagination of the reader. Suffice it to say that 
several were killed and a number wounded. 

Among the slain or mortally wounded, was Stephen 
Walker, a man who was abhorred by every body ex- 
cept Fanning and his party ; and at whose death, at 
least all the Whfg community rejoiced. Fanning 
himself had the good fortune to escape, and the 
greater part of his corps ; but he had never been so 
outwitted and discomfitted before. He never had 
been so mistaken in his man, nor so completely 
duped ; and he never had met with any thing in all 
the battles and rencontres in which he had been 
engaged, at least since he had been a British Colonel, 

21 



242 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

that so mortified his pride, or that so much impaired 
his military strength and his martial prowess. The 
precise number of killed and wounded I did not 
learn ; but I understood that the Whigs lost none. 
Fanning and his party, I think, did not pretend to 
fight ; for they were overpowered by numbers and 
were taken at such a disadvantage, where there was 
no chance for them all to get together, and on ground 
■where they could not possibly form into any order, 
for either an aggressive or a defensive effort, all they 
could do was to seek safety by flight, and find con- 
cealment in the surrounding darkness. 

In reading anything of the narrative kind, it adds 
much to the gratification when we can trace the 
order of events and see the connection of one with 
another, but in this and many other cases that cannot 
be done. Such have been the peculiar circumstances 
of this country, that incidents of the most interesting 
kind were left unrecorded until the dates and all the 
peculiar circumstances are forgotten. My informant 
believed that the above transaction took place late in 
the fall of 1781 ; but his recollection was not so dis- 
tinct that he could be certain. It has been suggested 
to me that Harding made the arratigement with Col- 
onel Gholson ; and that the Colonel killed Walker 
with his own hand ; but of this I have as yet had no 
reliable information. The main facts are believed to 
be correct ; and it is a matter of so much interest in 
itself we hope, that as Colonel Gholson's descendents 
are still living, some in that region and some in the 
west, the circumstances will be more fully brought 
to light, and the transaction be fairly represented. 



COL. DAVID FANNING. 243 



EXCURSION UP DEEP RIVER. 

The reader will no doubt feel surprised, as the 
writer has done, to find that Fanning still kept the 
field and pursued his course of devastation with una- 
bated zeal for months after the cause in which he 
was engaged had become desperate. After the 
British had left this state and had been driven out 
of South Carolina ; after the British army under 
Cornwallis had surrendered at Yorktown, he still 
maintained as bold a front as ever, and fought on 
with an unyielding pertinacity. It seems strange, 
" 'tis passing strange," that in view of all these 
circumstances and when he had probably not more 
than twenty or thirty men ; when confidence was 
reviving in the breasts of the patriots and when the 
paralysing effects of discouragement were pervading 
the ranks of the royalists, the Whigs did not rally in 
sufficient numbers to cut him off" or capture him at 
once, and thus put an end to his murders and devas- 
tations ; but whether it was owing to the terror of his 
name, or to the fact that they could not overtake him, 
none of the companies, so far as I have heard, that went 
down so often below Deep River to subdue the Scotch, 
ever encountered Fanning. This was not all ; for we 
find him at this time writing to Gov. Burke, with as 
great an air of independence and conscious dignity 
as if he had been Caesar or Napoleon Bonaparte, 
and charging the Governor with murdering three of 
his men, dictating terms of peace and threatening to 



244 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

retaliate tenfold if reparation were not made and a 
stop put to such proceedings. The occasion of 
this singular correspondence may be learned from 
the following communication of Judge Williams to 
Governor Burke. 

milsboro, 27th Jan., 1782. 
Dear Sir, 



* * * * * ^* * 

During this term seven persons have been capi- 
tally convicted, to wit. Samuel Poe, for burglary, 
Thomas Rickets, Meredith Edwards, Thomas East- 
ridge, and Thomas Darke for high treason ; Thomas 
Duke and William Hunt for horse stealing, And as 
I suppose some application may be made for mercy, 
I have thought proper to represent to your Excellency 
the true point of view in which the several persons 
condemned stood before the court. 

Thomas Darke, a captain of Tanning's and one of 
his right hand men, is the principal person convicted. 
He has been very active and enterprising, and near 
as dangerous a person as Fanning himself, and from 
his proved inhumanities and cruelties in cutting, 
hacking and wounding his prisoners, had acquired 
among those of his own party, the name of" young 
Tarlton." 

Thomas Rickets, though indicted of treason only, 
it is hard to mention a crime of which he is not 
accused and I have good reason to believe not wrong- 
fully, murder, housebreaking, robbery &c., &c., are 



COL. DAVID FANNING. 245 

on the black list of his crimes, to which is added a 
general bad character. 

Meredith Edwards and Thomas Eastridge were 
also indicted for treason. They are both men who 
appeared to be equally popular among the Tories, 
and very active, and men of Fanning's gang, though 
generally kind and humane to prisoners while in their 
custody, and seemed much to lament the fate of their 
particular neighbors, whom they had taken with Go- 
vernor Burke, and to express some uneasiness at see- 
ing them in captivity. As to the general moral 
character of these men, it seemed to be pretty good, 
only great Tories — Eastridge from the commence- 
ment of the times. 

****** 
I have the honor to be, dear sir, 
Your very ob't hum. servant, 
Jno. Williams. 

From this it appears that several of Fanning's men 
had been captured, when, where, or by whom, does 
not appear ; but after trial in the civil court, they had 
been found guilty of the crimes laid to their charge. 
Summary justice* was then the order of the day, and 
three of them had been executed. This provoked the 
wrath of Fanning, and gave rise to the following very 
characteristic letter from him to Governor Burke. 

Feh. 2Qtli, 1782. 

Sir : — I understand that you have hung three of 

my men, one Captain and two privates, and likewise 

have a captain and six men under sentence of death. 
21* 



246 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

Sir, if the requisition of my articles do not arrive 
to satisfaction, and the effusion of blood stops, and 
the lives of those men saved, that I will retaliate 
blood for blood, and tenfold for one, and there shall 
never an officer or private of the rebel party escape 
that falls into my hands hereafter, but what shall 
suffer the pain and punishment of instant death. I 
have got your proclamation, whereas it specifies this, 
that all officers or leading men, persons of this class 
guilty of murder, robbery, and house-burning, to be 
precluded from any benefits of your proclamation, 
for there never was a man who has been in arms on 
either side, but what is guilty of some of the 'above 
mentioned crimes, especially on the rebel side, and 
them that's guilty is to sufi"er instant death, if taken. 
If my request agreeably to my articles ain't granted, 
and arrive by the eighth day of March next, I shall 
fall upon the severest and most inhuman terms ima- 
ginable to answer the ends for those that are so exe- 
cuted, and if the request is granted immediately, send 
a field officer to Deep river, to Mr. Winsor Pearce, 
and there he may remain unmolested, or to Colonel 
Phelon Obstones, under a flag, till we can settle the 
matter. So no more, but I am, in behalf of his Ma- 
jesty's troops, 

Your most humble servant, 
David Fanning. 

Commander of the Royal Militia of Randolph and 
Chatham. 

P. S. On Friday, the 7th of January last, I wrote 
to lawyer Williams the terms that I was willing to 



COL. DAVID FANNING. 247 

surrender under, and lie wrote to me that General 
Butler would not comply with my terms till he had 
the approbation of the Governor. On Wednesday, 
the 11th inst., the flag was to meet me at a certain 
house with the letters, and as the flag was coming it 
was waylaid by Charles Gholson and a party of men, 
from which it appeared to me that they seemed more 
like taking my life by treachery than coming upon 
peaceable terms ; but as the gentleman that bore the 
flag, Balsom Thompson, acting so honorable to his 
trust, the moment he arrived at the place, he let me 
know of it, and declared himself innocent, which gave 
me grounds to think he would act with honor still. 

On the 15th of the present, Mr. Williams, Mr. 
Clark, and Mr. Burns, were the gentlemen that were 
kind enough to wait upon me with a blank parole 
and letter, that my request was granted by the 
Governor. In the meantime, the gentlemen waiting 
on me at the place appointed, there came around me 
a company of the Haw Fields, commanded by Cap- 
tain Lerbe, which plainly and evidently appeared to 
me that there was but treachery meant. On Sun- 
day, the 10th of February, I fell in the rear of Cap- 
tain Gholson and Captain Hines, and following their 
trail, came on them at dusk, and after some firing 
that night, we rode off", and came on them next morn- 
ing, and we came upon terms of peace, till I could 
write to their superior, for which I have counselled 
with some of my officers, and we joined hand and 
heart, to comply with the terms underneath written. 

"We, the subscribers, do acknowledge ourselves 



248 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

subjects to the British Government, and as you are 
well assured of our fidelity and loyalty to his Majesty, 
and has been daily the case that we have been de- 
stroying one another's persons and property to 
uphold our opinions, and we are hereby willing to 
come to a cessation of arms for three months, on the 
condition underwritten. 

Our request is, from Cumberland, twenty miles 
north, and thirty miles east and west, to be clear of 
any of your light horse. And further, that every 
man that has been in actual arms, in a permanent 
order, in order to establish a Royal Government ex- 
cepting those that have deserted from a regular troop, 
who have voluntarily enlisted themselves, them we 
do obligate to deliver up, and each and every man 
that is at liberty, shall have a right to withdraw in 
the said District, and that any persons living in the 
said District that have been in actual arms in a per- 
manent manner to establish the Royal Government, 
that we should at any request by writing to me or 
Major Reins, have them apprehended and sent to any 
of the American officers at or near the line. 

That, if any of our men should go out of the line 
or district, to plunder or distress or murder any of 
the American party, that we will, by information 
made to me or Major Reins, or any of the Captains, 
that I shall return their names. If their request is 
granted, that they shall be immediately apprehended 
and sent to you or the the next officer, to be tried by 
your own law: and if any of your party shall be 
caught plundering, stealing or murdering, or going 



COL. DAVID FANNING. 249 

private paths with arms, signifying as if they were 
for mischief, to be left to our pleasure, to deal with 
as we see cause agreeable to our laws. All public 
roads to be free, by any army or company keeping 
the public roads, or wagons. 

That every person that has been in actual arms in 
a permanent manner ir^ order to establish the Royal 
Government, shall not be interrupted of his arms or 
provisions, and any person that has not been in arms 
as above mentioned. If you should want provisions 
or any other articles from them, to send to either of 
us, and we will send a sufficient guard to see them 
safe in and out, the Quakers excepted, and that we 
will not in the mean time distress or disturb any 
person abiding by your law on the said district in 
their persons or property. 

All back plunder shall be void, as it is impossible 
to replace or restore all the plunder on either side. 

Our request is to have a free trade to any part, 
with wagons or horse back, with a pass from any ap- 
pointed officer for salt or iron, or any other necessary, 
and we expect the two Coxe's Mills to be free from 
all armies belonging to America. 

Any man that has been returned a Continental, 
without taking the county, that has been in actual 
arms as above written, shall return in the said 
District. 

If the request is granted above written, I should 
request the liberty to send to Charleston to let them 
know what we are about, and any request you should 
ask in reason, I will petition for, and perhaps a peace 



250 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

might be made for a twelve month, or more, if you 
desire it. 

If the request can't be granted, be pleased to let 
me know as quick as possible, and if you don't like 
to comply with our terms, send me an answer back 
immediately, that we may know what to depend on. 
So, no more at present, but we remain friends, in 
behalf of his Majesty's Troops. 
Sir, we remain 
Your faithful 

And humble servants, 

David Fanning, Colonel, 
John Reins, Major, 
William Eeins, Captain, 
John Eagle, Captain, 
William Price, Captain, 
Jacob Maner, Ensign. 

We would not blame Fanning, nor any other man, 
when honestly holding an office under the Royal Go- 
vernment, for standing firm in his place, and per- 
forming with all fidelity the duties of the trust reposed 
in him, provided he does it according to the rules of 
civilized and Christian warfare ; but we would blame 
any one. Whig or Tory, for violating all the princi- 
ples of honor and humanity, and for employing all 
his energies and resources, merely to gratify the low 
spirit of malice and revenge. 

Supposing that it might be gratifying to many of 
my readers to see something of the judicial proceed- 
ings, and of the summary manner in which justice 



COL. DAVID FANNING. 251 

was administered during those troublous times, I 
have extracted from the records of the circuit court 
in Hillsboro' the account of the sentence passed upon 
the three of Fannyig's men, mentioned above, and 
one or two others. 

At a Court of Sessions of the Peace, Oyer and 
Terminer, General Gaol delivery begun and held for 
the District of Hillsboro' at Hillsboro' on Thursday 
the Seventeenth Day of January, Anno Dom., 1782, 
pursuant to a commission issued by the Governor 
for the time being, bearing date the 19th day of 
December, 1781, which commission for holding said 
Court was read, &c. 

Present the Honorable John Williams, Esquire. 

SENTENCE. 

Saturday^ January 2Qth, 1782. 
" The Court met according to adjournment, Pre- 
sent the Honorable John Williams, Esq. 

Samuel Poe, Indicted and Convicted of Burglary. 

Thomas Rickets, Indicted and Convicted of High Treason. 

Meredith Edwards, Indicted and Convicted of High Treason. 

Thomas Estridge, Indicted and Convicted of High Treason. 

Thomas Dark, Indicted and Convicted of High Treason. 

William Duke and 1 ^ ,. , , , ^ . , „ .^ 

. TT t ( 1^^^^*^^ ^^^ Convicted of Horse Stealing. 

Being brought into Court and to the Bar, re- 
ceived the following sentence. That you the said 
Samuel Poe, Thomas Rickets, Meredith Edwards, 
Thomas Estridge, Thomas Dark, William Duke and 
Thomas Hunt, and each of you, be taken from thence 



252 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

to the place whence you came, and from thence to 
the place of execution, and there be hung by the 
neck and each of your necks until you are dead. 

Ordered that the Sheriff of the county of Orange, 
or for want of such officer, the Coroner of the said 
county, carry into execution the above sentence of 
the court, in the following manner, that is to say, the 
sentence against Samuel Poe, Thomas Rickets and 
Thomas Dark, on Friday, the first day of February 
next, between the hours of Eleven o'clock in the 
forenoon, and Two o'clock in the afternoon. 

And the sentence of Meredith Edwards, Thomas 
Estridge, William Duke and Thomas Hunt, be carried 
into execution on the first day of March next, be- 
tween the hours of eleven o'clock in the forenoon, 
and two o'clock in the afternoon. 

It being recommended to the court, that the estate 
of Thomas Estridge, (who this Term was condemned 
for high Treason,) consisting of the following articles, 
to wit: pork of hogs, eight cows and one mare, 
siezed, and in possession of Colonel Benjamin Sea- 
well, of Franklin county ; also, a small quantity of 
household furniture. 

Ordered by the court, that the above articles be 
assigned to the wife of the said Thomas Estridge, for 
the maintenance of said wife and family ; and that a 
copy of this order be transmitted to the said Colonel 
Seawell, or Commissioner of confiscated property, of 
said county of Franklin. 

Ordered that the following articles of the estate of 
Thomas Dark, (who this term was condemned for 



COL. DAVID FANNING. 253 

high Treason,) to wit: four head of cattle, two 
horses, one mare, and some household furniture, be 
assigned to the wife of the said Thomas Dark, for the 
maintenance of the said wife and family. 

Ordered that one cow and bed of the estate of 
Thomas Rickets, (who in this Court was condemned 
for high Treason,) be assigned to the wife of the said 
Thomas Rickets, for the support of said wife and 
family. 

(Teste) A. Tatom, 
Olh, Pro. Tern, 

The threat in the above communication, which is 
copied from the University Magazine, seems to have 
been fulfilled with too much punctuality, and from 
that time he appears to have become more desperate 
than ever. Among civilized and Christian nations, 
especially for the last two or three generations, no 
class of men make greater pretentions to those feel- 
ings of humanity and those generous impulses which 
prompt them to spare the fallen and to protect the 
feeble, than the ofiicers of an army ; and an officer of 
rank and character could not bring on himself a 
greater reproach than by wanton cruelty to a surren- 
dered foe, to the aged and infirm, or to women and 
children. The sexes, however much they may envy 
and malign, hate and destroy their own, are gene- 
rally chary of each other, and the man who can de- 
liberately take the life of a woman is universally re- 
garded as a maniac or a monster. Probably every 

man of true courage and manliness, if he must die a 

22 



254 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

^iolent death, would prefer to be killed by a savage, 
a lion, or a tiger, a reptile, an insect, or any thing in 
the world, rather than by a woman; for before such 
an act could be committed, he must have done some- 
thing which was beyond all human endurance, or she 
must have been, by some blighting influence, so 
divested of all the kind and noble qualities of her 
nature as to have no longer any moral or social 
afiinity with her race. All men of honorable feelings 
respect a virtuous woman, especially if she is a wife 
or a mother ; and she must have a fiendish or a swinish 
nature who can corrupt the pure or revel with the 
vile; but Fanning had no such refined feelings and 
no such sense of honor. Though a British Colonel 
and in correspondence with British officers of high 
standing, neither promotion in the service of the 
King, nor converse with men of better principles, 
could revolutionize his moral nature nor bring him 
under the habitual control of more generous and lofty 
sentiments. 

During this period, though a married man, he suc- 
ceeded in seducing the wife of a Whig, in the absence 
of her husband, and, after keeping her for a short 
time, he murdered her in cold blood. On meeting 
her at their place of assignation, which was in the 
woods and not very far from the house, he pretended 
to be jealous of her and charged her with a want of 
fidelity. She denied in the most solemn manner, that 
there was any foundation for the charge, and declared 
that since she had taken up with him she had not 
thought of any other ; but it was of no avail. He 



COL. DAVID FANNING. 255 

had accomplished his purpose and wanted to get clear 
of her. He pulled out his pistol, therefore, and shot 
her dead on the spot, when on her knees and begging 
for her life. I got this incident from a gentleman of 
much intelligence in that region, who has felt great 
interest in gathering up the incidents of the Eevolu- 
tionary war ; and he told me that, horrid as it was, 
there was no doubt of the fact. 

An act of such perfidy, baseness and cruelty, 
caused a coldness ever after, between Fanning and 
his brother-in-law, William Kerr, whose sister he had 
married; and although some correspondence was 
kept up between them occasionally, while they both 
lived, it was neither frequent nor cordial. Kerr is 
reported to have been a man of more humanity and 
more honorable feelings than almost any other in the 
corps ; and he resented it, not only for the immora- 
lity of the act, and on his sister's account, but for the 
atrocity of the deed. He soon after left the service, 
and there never was any harmonious or friendly in- 
tercourse between them afterwards. It is said that 
Tanning made other attempts of the kind; but so far 
as any reliable accounts are known, this was the only 
case in which he succeeded. When we think of those 
times, with all their perils and sufferings thus spread 
out before us, with the reports of their atrocities and 
abominations still ringing in our ears, with the light 
of Christianity shining around us in so much purity 
and brightness, and with all the blessings of peace 
and tranquility, freedom and civilization, flowing in 
uj^on us from every side, and in such increasing exu- 



256 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

berancG; we are made to feel that we need no friendly 
monitor to keep us in mind of our obligations, and no 
homily to make us pray with all the fervor of which 
we are capable, that such times may never return. 

The two following incidents are copied from the 
University Magazine. " William Lindley was one of 
Tanning's favorite friends and one of his captains. He 
was a respectable man and beloved by his neighbors, 
and took no part in Tanning's cruelties. Towards 
the close of the war, when the Tories began to think 
that the cause of Independence would eventually tri- 
umph, Lindley, with many other of the Tories, 
thought it prudent to leave the part of the country 
where they were known and retire to distant parts. 
Lindley crossed the Blue Ridge and determined to 
remain on New river, until the fate of the war was 
determined. During his command under Fanning, 
he had given some ofi'ence to William White and 
John Magaharty, two of the Tories belonging to Tan- 
ning's party. They pursued Lindley and killed him. 
Upon their return. Fanning, having heard of the 
murder of his friend, resolved to hang them as soon 
as he could apprehend them. In a little time White 
and Magaharty fell into his hands, and he hanged 
them together on the same limb." 

" White's wife was pregnant. He gave her a par- 
ticular account of the murder of Lindley, describing 
the wounds on his head and the loss of the fingers of 
one of his hands, which were cut ofi" by the sword in 
his attempt to save his head from the blow. The 
story made such an impression upon White's wifip, 



COL. DAVID FANNING. 257 

that her child, when born, exhibited a remarkable 
appearance, had marks on its head, and the fingers 
of one hand were declared by the mother to be pre- 
cisely such as White had described to her to have 
been those of Lindley." 

For the following letter I am indebted to Gov. 
Swain ; and give it to the reader as illustrative of 
the state of things then existing in the country. It 
was addressed to General Butler by Col. O'Neal, a 
man who, according to the testimony of his neighbors, 
loved to keep up appearances, but never fought in 
one battle, nor exposed himself to the fire of an 
enemy, and never did anything in the cause of Inde- 
pendence, except to receive pay for nominal services 
and take advantage of his office as Colonel to extort 
upon the people of his district. Such men are to be 
found every where and in the most trying times, 
men who have neither courage, nor patriotism, nor 
generosity, and who are so cowardly or so avaricious 
as to be intent on their gains even when their country- 
men around them are suffering and struggling for 
freedom. If Colonel O'Neal, with the men who were 
under his command and whom he could, at any time, 
summon to his standard, had been out bravely 
opposing that notorious freebooter. Col. Fanning, he 
would have done better service to his country than 
by writing such a pufi" at his fireside ; but a man of 
this discription may tell the truth, especially when 
telling it may help to keep him in countenance ; and 
therefore we submit this letter to the reader's perusal. 

22* 



258 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

To General Butler. 

March 1st, 1782. 
Dear Sir, 

I had an opportilnity of seeing Doctor Boyd 
yesterday. He informs me that he saw Captain 
Hanly who informed him that he was in action with 
Fanning, twelve surprised eighteen, killed six and 
took three prisoners and a negro, the Conjuror. 

Lieutenant Davie who had a very fine mare was 
appointed to take Fanning in case he ran. Fanning 
got about forty yards the start of him, but came 
within four rods in riding five miles. After the mare 
failed and Fanning cleared himself, but I expect he 
is taken now. 

I hope, Sir, that if there is any new particulars, 
in your letter you will let me know as I am very 
fond of good news. 
I am Sir, 

your friend and humble serv't, 

WM. O'NEAL. 

As an evidence of the strong and universal detes- 
tation in which his character and conduct were held, 
he was excepted in every treaty and every enactment 
that was made in favor of the royalists. " Sabine, 
in his lives of the loyalists, states that when General 
Marion came to terms with Major Gainey, and con J 
ceded to him the privileges of the "neutral ground," 
Fanning was expressly excepted from the arrange- 
ment. He was one of only three persons excluded 
by name from all benefits under the general " Act of 



COL. DAVID FANNING. 259 

Pardon and Oblivion " of offences committed during 
the Kevolution. [Passed in 1783, Chapter VI. Sec- 
tion 3.] 

While his confederates, Colonels Hector McNeill 
and Duncan Ray, though their operations, when act- 
ing separately, were confined to the intermediate 
region between the Cape Fear and Pedee rivers, 
when pressed, they found safe refuge in the Raft 
Swamp, the neighboring morasses, and occasionally 
in the " neutral ground " in South Carolina, which 
the necessities of his position compelled General 
Marion to accord to Major Gainey when he surren- 
dered," but Fanning was expressly excluded from 
this privilege, and his operations were confined, for 
the most part, to the upper country. 

On the same day, they overtook a young man, by 
the name of Daniel Clifton, who had been on a visit 
to some of his relations, who lived on the Pedee, and 
was returning to his home in Virginia. They took 
him as a prisoner; and passing by the same tree on 
which Fanning had hanged White and Magaherty, 
they halted for a few minutes, and hanged Clifton on 
the same limb." 

About the time the foregoing letter was written, 
and for some weeks after, a state of suffering and 
distress existed in Randolph County, especially in 
the upper parts of it, which can be hardly conceived. 
Many of the most respectable men in the country, 
prominent Whigs, who had been active in the cause, 
and a number of peaceable, inoffensive men, who had 
taken no active part on either side, were murdered in 



260 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

the most shocking manner. Houses and harns "were 
burned, with everj^thing they contained. Provisions, 
bedding, and comforts of every kind were destroyed ; 
and many families, hitherto in affluent circumstances, 
were left to beggary or absolute starvation. All this 
was done from an insatiable spirit of revenge, and 
not from any hope of maintaining his ground, or of 
materially aiding the British cause ; for at this time, 
the spring of 1782, the British had been driven from 
the country ; the great mass of the Tories had been 
completely subdued, and all hope of success had 
vanished. The reader will now recollect Fanning's 
letter to Governor Burke, in which he made the bold 
independent threat, that if the execution of his men 
who had been apprehended, and were then under sen- 
tence of death, was not stopped, he would retaliate 
^Henfold for one," and that "no officer or private of the 
rebel party," who might fall into his hands hereafter, 
should escape instant death. Knowing the spiteful, 
reckless, and daring character of Fanning, the gov- 
ernor ought, at once, to have sent a detachment into 
that region, sufficient to capture him forthwith, or 
drive him out of the country ; but probably he had it 
not in his power, or did not apprehend that, as his 
number of men was now considerably, reduced, he 
would be able to fulfil his threats. It would not, 
however, be difficult, even at this late day, to show 
that he did literally, if not more than literally, fulfil 
it; and it is said that some monuments of his atroci- 
ties may yet be seen. He made only one excursion 
into the north- west portion of Randolph County; 



COL. DAVID FANNING. 261 

but that was one of Saracen fury and most terrible 
destruction. For a fuller account of this excursion 
than I had previously obtained, I am indebted to 
George C. Mendenhall, Esquire, who, at my request, 
very promptly and kindly undertook to obtain all the 
facts he could from Isaac Farlow, a respectable mem- 
ber of the Quaker society, who is now an old man, in 
the eighty-seventh year of his age, but seems to re- 
tain all his faculties unimpaired. He lives on Deep 
river, just in the neighborhood where many of these 
atrocities were committed, and well recollects all that 
he saw or heard. From his statements I have been 
able to trace the sequence of events, better than in 
any previous accounts that I had received; and 
he gives some additional facts of considerable inter- 
est. To converse wuth such a man is like being car- 
ried back to those days, and set down amidst the very 
scenes of desolation and wretchedness, as they actu- 
ally existed. 

The first victim of his revenge, or the first one of 
any note, was Colonel Andrew Balfour, who lived in 
the south west part of Randolph county, and about 
ten miles from Ashboro'. Only two years before he 
had represented the county in the Legislature, and 
was much esteemed in the neighborhood. He was a 
man of intelligence and public spirit, highly patriotic, 
liberal in his views and of an irreproachable charac- 
ter. He was at the time just recovering from an 
attack of sickness, and was unable either to fight or 
make his escape ; but when he had his passions 
excited or was burning with revenge, Fanning knew 



262 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

no pity. His enemy was in his power and that was 
enough. He had before plundered Balfour's house, 
in his absence, and had now come to take his life, 
which he did in the most barbarous and shocking 
manner, in the presence of his sister and little 
daughter, eight or nine years of age, who were both 
trampled upon and treated with savage barbarity. 
This was on Sunday, March 10th, 1782, and was, 
certainly, one of the most base and cruel deeds of 
his bloody career. Some of the descendants of that 
little daughter are now among our most estimable 
and useful citizens ; but we will give a fuller account 
of Colonel Balfour and of his tragical end, in a sepa- 
rate article. 

From this scene of cruelty and bloodshed they 
went to the house of William Milliken, Esq., who 
lived on Back creek, about two miles south of John- 
sonville or the old cross roads. As Milliken was not 
at home they burned all his buildings, and destroyed 
every thing they could. On going to a house, if he 
got the man and took his life, he never burned the 
house nor destroyed any other property, except 
perhaps to take just what grain or provisions they 
needed at the time ; but if he failed to get the man, 
he then destroyed every thing he could and seemed 
to delight in causing as much distress to the family 
as possible. While Milliken's house was on fire, as 
Farlow states, his wife, Jane, carried out a favorite 
feather bed ; but they carrried it back and threw it 
on the fire. When the bed began to burn, they twisted 
a stick into th: feathers and scattered them over the 



COL. DAVID TANNING- 263 

house. When the blazing feathers as they flew in 
every direction through the rooms, caught in a large 
bundle of yarn, which being on the wall, they only 
taunted Mrs. Milliken, and said, "Look at your 
yarn, old woman." On leaving Milliken's, they 
compelled his son Benjamin and a young man by the 
name of Joshua Lowe to go along and pilot them to 
the house of Col. John Collins, where he met with a 
disappointment; for Collins was not at home, but 
they burned his house. 

He next went to the house of Colonel John Col- 
lier, who was the Senator for Randolph county, and 
in other respects a prominent man. He had been 
appointed County Surveyor, but either being unac- 
quainted with the business himself, or not having 
time for it, he had brought a young man, by the 
name of William Clarke, from Virginia, to do the 
surveying. Clarke soon found where the vacant 
lands lay and entered them. Frequently he entered 
lands on which people were living, but whether with 
good title deeds or not I have not learned ; but this 
seems to have been done chiefly with those who were 
regarded as Tories, or who were not on the Whig 
side, and perhaps with such as he thought could be 
frightened into measures. After awhile he employed 
Ralph Lowe, and a man by the name of Linden, to 
to sell these lands for him. " Nathan Farlow," says 
my informant, " had to pay a fat steer and some gold 
for his land ;" but in process of time, Nathan Farlow 
owned all the lands of these men and he himself, 
Isaac Farlow, now lives on the Lowe land. It was 



264 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

believed bj the sufferers that these things were done 
by Collier's connivance, if not by his express direc- 
tion ; and while his prominence as a Whig made him 
a special object of Fanning's vengeance, he had 
incurred, justly or unjustly, the ill will of all that 
class in the neighborhood, and probably in the whole 
or a large part of the county. 

On the night of Fanning's attack, he was at home, 
and asleep ; but being well aware that he ran a con- 
siderable risk in doing so, before he lay down he 
placed a young man by the name of Benjamin 
Fincher, as sentinel, on a pile of rails, at the distance 
of a few rods from the house, and left his horse tied 
near the door, where he had fed him in a hominy 
mortar, probably with the saddle on and ready to be 
mounted at a moment's warning. As the assailants 
approached, and Fincher hailed them, Fanning made 
his two Whig pilots, Milliken and Lowe, answer that 
they were friends. Becoming more and more uneasy 
as they approached so mysteriously, he kept hailing 
them, and they kept answering that they were 
friends, until they got pretty near, when two guns 
were fired at him ; but having on a strong, tight 
vest, the balls glanced and did him no serious injury. 
My informant, Isaac Farlow, saw Fincher the next 
day, and the marks of the bullets on the vest. When 
they fired on Fincher, he hopped off the rail pile 
and ran for life, leaving his musket behind him. 
The firing roused Colonel Collier, and springing 
instantly to his feet, cried out, " Parade ! parade ! 
boys, parade !" Such a command, uttered with so 



COL. DAVID FANNING. 265 

much boldness, and by a man of his standing and 
influence, made Fanning pause for a moment, and 
this allowed Collier time to mount his horse and 
escape ; but the house was burned and the premises 
made a scene of utter desolation. He lived about 
three miles from Bell's mill, and in a south-west 
direction. He went the same night to the house of 
Captain John Bryant, who lived about half a mile 
from New Market, and on the place now owned and 
occupied by Joseph Newland; but missed his way 
and went to the house of Stephen Harlin, who was a 
Quaker, if I mistake not, or at least an inoffensive 
kind of a man. Fanning did not molest him ; but 
compelled two of his daughters, Betsy and Elsy, to 
go along and show him the way to Bryant's house. 
On riding up they first enquired for the man of the 
house, and were told that he was tending Walker's 
mill, on Sandy creek, when one of them exclaimed 
with an oath, " Here is Walker, now." They then 
began enquiring who lived in this direction and who 
lived in that direction, until Bryant was named, when 
they said that was the place to which they wished to 
go, and made these two daughters of Walker's mil- 
ler get up behind and go along as pilots. When 
they came up they made a rush against the door to 
burst it open, but it was fast barred. The noise 
waked Bryant, however, and he asked "Who is 
there ?" They answered, Colonel Fanning, and 
asked him to open the door. He told them to wait 
till he got his breeches on ; but they damned him 

and his breeches too. He, Bryant, called a young 
23 



266 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

man who was in the house, to get up, but he thought 
it was all a jest when they told him that Fanning 
was there. They called upon him to surrender ; 
and when he asked them what they would do with 
him if he did surrender, they answered that they 
would parole him, but he replied, " Damn you and 
your parole too. I have had one, and I will never 
take another." Fanning then spoke, and said, "My 
life for his, if Walker don't kill him." The Miss 
Harlins, whom they had brought along as pilots, 
entreated him to surrender, assuring him that Fan- 
ning was there ; but not believing it, he cursed 
Fanning and the whole of them. He opened the 
door a little way to admit the girls, and one of them 
started to go in ; but Walker caught her by the 
dress and pulled her back, swearing that she was 
going in to protect Bryant. Bryant seems to have 
been a brave but reckless kind of a man. After 
holding out as long as he could, he opened the door, 
and going out on the step, said, " Gentlemen, I 
surrender;" but instantly he was shot down, and fell 
back against his wife, who was standing just behind 
him. As she was raising him up, another of the 
company stepped forward and shot him in the eye. 
Fanning then threatened death to any one who 
should give the alarm before daylight; but, accord- 
ing to his custom, as he had killed the man he was 
after, he destroyed no property and did no further 
damage. As he probably felt a little wearied after 
so many labors, he lay down in the cradle, and after 
rocking himself there very comfortably for some 



COL. DAVID FANNING. 267 

time, while the rest were sauntering about, they all 
gathered up and went off in quest of other victims. 

As soon as they were gone, Richard Isaacs, who 
lived at Bryants, went over to Nathan Farlow's and 
told them what had been done. He and his wife, 
Ruth, went over to Bryant's before daylight ; but 
Nathan stopped at some distance from the house 
until he ascertained whether he could go with safety. 
His wife, on entering the house, found the dead body 
of Bryant lying on the door-sill, with the head inside 
and the legs and feet outside. What had become of 
Mrs. Bryant and the children, in the meantime, — 
whether they had been driven away or frightened 
away by the ruffians, or, finding that they could do 
nothing with it, after Isaacs left, they were letting it 
lie until some of the neighbors would come in, and 
were giving vent to their grief, I have not learned ; 
— but, by daylight, Nathan Farlow and his wife had 
the corps laid out. At sunrise, Isaac Farlow, my 
informant, went over himself, and saw the body and 
the two bullet holes. The first ball had entered 
his breast and the other his head ; but neither of them 
had passed through him. Bryant was a daring, 
fearless kind of a man. An old Friend in that 
neighborhood told me that he could have made his 
escape from the back door, if he had done it as soon 
as the alarm was given ; but that he scorned to run 
from his enemies, and did not surrender until he 
found they were about setting fire to the house. 
When he cursed them and their parole too, they told 
him in language which would then have been under- 



268 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

stood any where, that thej would " parole him the 
near way to Georgia,'' and, going to some "log 
heaps " which were burning in a field, not far from 
the house, they got a " chunk " or brand for the 
purpose of burning the house, with all that it con- 
tained. Seeing that they were determined on his 
death, and rather than let his wife and children be 
burned up in the house with him, he opened the door, 
went out on the step and offered to surrender, but 
was instantly shot down. 

After Fanning and his troop had left Bryant's 
something like an hour, they returned and enquired 
the way to Colonel Dougan's house. They burned 
his house with all the buildings on the premises, and 
destroyed every thing they could. After leaving 
Dougan's, and in the course of the same day, they 
captured a Whig and hung him on the spot. The 
Whigs had, some time before, hung a Tory, by the 
name of Isaac Jackson, on the limb of a tree which 
stood by a short turn in the road near Brewer's and 
Spinks' ; and Fanning had sworn that he would hang 
five Whigs on the same limb for every Tory the 
Whigs hung ; but, old Friend Farlow says they mis- 
took the limb and hung him on a limb close by the 
one on which the Tory had been hanged ; for he 
knew both the limbs. They cut a notch on the limb 
on which they hung the Whig, using it as a talley, 
and intending to cut an additional notch for every 
Whig they hung on it until their number was com- 
plete ; but fortunately for the country, he was disap- 



COL. DAVID FANNING. 269 

pointed ; for this proved to be his first and last vist 
into that neighborhood. 

During this expedition up Deep river, which in- 
cluded some three or four days, a little incident 
occurred which, though of small importance in itself, 
was rather amusing than otherwise, and showed the 
terror of his name, of which old Friend Farlow gives 
the following account. 

A troop of Light-horse, from the foot of the Blue 
Ridge, or what was then called the Hollows, in Surry' 
county, came down Deep river into the Coxes' settle- 
ment, on the hunt of Fanning, and after giving him 
a chase, as they said, in the morning, but without 
success, they loaded themselves with plunder from the 
settlers of the neighborhood, such as knives and 
forks, plates, spoons, &c. Having done so, they set 
off on their return, Isaac Farlow says, and came as 
far as his uncle George Farlow's, who was then living 
in a cabin on the road-side, with a small lot enclosed 
around it. The house stood on the east bank of 
Web's creek, about three or four miles east from the 
present town of Ashboro', and is now owned by 
Joseph Cannon. When the party came opposite to 
the house, Farlow was standing in the door, and one 
of the men presented his gun as if about to shoot, 
but another stopped him and told him not to shoot, 
for that was the man of the house. Here they halt- 
ed, sitting on their horses, and gave an account of 
their adventure in the morning, stating that they had 
been in pursuit of Fanning, that they had given him 
a hard chase, but without success, and that they were 



270 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

making great boasts of what they would do if they 
could only get a chance at him, when one of them 
happened to turn his eye down the road and exclaim- 
ed, with an oath, " Yonder is Fanning now." In- 
stantly they dashed off, down the hill, which was very 
steep, and into the creek, all huddled up together. 
Farlow said there was such a blaze of fire from the 
guns of Fanning's men, as they passed the door, 
that he thought the others must have been all killed; 
but not much execution was done. When the moun- 
tain party got out of the creek, they left the road and 
took into the woods, towards the place where Ash- 
boro' now stands, and Fanning's party in hot pur- 
suit. It was "neck or nought," and they fled for 
life, throwing away every incumbrance and strewing 
their plunder, knives and forks, plates, spoons, and 
every thing else, all through the woods. In a short 
time Fanning returned, bringing a prisoner with him, 
who was badly wounded, and stating that they had 
killed one man in the woods, over the creek ; but, on 
search being made by the neighbors he was not 
found. Fanning left the wounded man in the care 
of Farlow, and told him, rather sarcastically, that, 
when he got well, he would be on the hunt of him 
again ; but the wounded man very humbly protested 
that he never would. Fanning then returned and in 
the direction from which he came while in pursuit of 
the mountaineers, and before he had overtaken them, 
he met Stephen Mendenhall and his wife, riding two 
very good horses, and, as some of his horses were 
failing, he made them exchange, but told them to 



COL. DAVID FANNING. 271 

stay there until he returned. They did so ; and, on 
his return, he gave them back their own horses. 

A troop of Whigs was instantly raised, headed by 
John Clarke, and went in pursuit. Clarke was a 
man of as much daring courage and energy of 
character as Fanning himself, but had not as much 
stratagem nor adroitness in the execution of his 
plans. Captain John Gillespie, having probably 
been sent for, came down with his company from 
Guilford and joined them. Gillespie feared no man 
and would have gloried in meeting this enemy of 
his country. Fanning and his corps had not left the 
place of execution more than a few minutes when 
this troop of Whigs, under the command or leadership 
of John Clarke, came in sight. A few of Fanning's 
men it seems had delayed a little, and having cut 
down the corpse, were doing something about it, either 
by way of preparation for burying it, or more proba- 
bly, they were robbing it of whatever money, clothes 
or any thing else which the man had about him that 
was worth carrying away. While thus employed the 
Whigs came in sight and they fled. There was a hot 
pursuit ; but the Tories, having the fleetest horses, 
all made their escape except one who was overtaken 
by John Dugan, and John Clarke. Dugan's gun 
or pistol snapped, but Clarke shot and probably 
inflicted a slight wound. The Tory fell to the ground 
and lay there making pretence that he was just 
breathing his last. Being deceived by appearances 
and wishing to overtake the rest if possible, they left 
him, as they supposed, in his last agonies ; but as 



272 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

soon as they were out of sight, he jumped up and 
rejoicing at the success of his stratagem, ran for dear 
life. 

From this time until he left the State, I have been 
able to get no consistent or satisfactory account ; 
but it was probably soon after the transactions above 
related, that he was so befooled by James Harding ; 
for his right hand man, the bloody Walker, was 
killed or mortally wounded on that occasion ; but 
he was with Fanning on this bloody excursion up the 
river. It is known however that he continued his 
murders and depredations for some weeks, probably 
two months longer and with a virulence increasing 
in proportion as his fortunes became desperate. 
Many of his men left him and went to the mountains 
or other places where they would be beyond the 
reach of law and the vengeance of the other party ; 
but a number adhered to him until the last, with, a 
firmness and a zeal worthy of a better cause. We 
presume that it was on their return from their 
murderous and devastating excursion up Deep river 
that they went to Bell's mill and made an attack 
upon his house in the night ; but were frightened 
away by a well managed stratagem of Mrs. Bell, a 
fuller account of which will be given in a separate 
sketch of her character, sufferings and patriotic 
services during the war. 



COL. DAVID FANNING. 273 



CAPTURE OF ANDREW HUNTER. 

Everybody in the whole country has, probably, 
heard something about the capture of Andrew Hun- 
ter by Fanning ; and of his singular, and almost mi- 
raculous escape. The incident was one of the last in 
Fanning's career ; and the account of it here given, 
is taken in part from Judge Murphy's papers as pub- 
lished in the University Magazine, and partly from 
other sources. 

It seems that Hunter was a Whig, and lived on 
the waters of Little river, in the south or south-west 
part of Randolph county. In addition to the well 
known fact that he wa^ a Whig, and a decided advo- 
cate of independence, he had made some remarks 
about Fanning, which, having come to his ears, had 
so excited his wrath, that he had sworn to take Hun- 
ter's life, if he ever got him in his power. When 
Hunter and John Latham, one of his neighbors, were 
going with a cart to market, on Pedee, for the pur- 
pose of getting salt and some other necessaries for 
their families, they saw Fanning and his corps ap- 
proaching. Latham was walking beside the horse, 
and Hunter was riding in the cart. He was well 
aware of Fanning's purpose to take his life and he 
knew that it would be perfectly useless for him to 
think of escaping on foot through the open pine 
woods. As the only thing in his power, he covered 
himself up as well as he could in the cart, and left 
the rest to an all-wise Providence. When Fanning 



274 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

came up, he stopped the cart, and asked Latham 
where he was going. He said he was going to such 
a place on the Pedee, to get salt and some other 
necessaries. " What have you in your cart?" "Some 
flaxseed, beeswax, &c." "Have you any thing to 
eat?" Latham told him that he had a little, but he 
hoped they would not take it from him, as it was very 
difficult to get any thing on that road. Fanning 
swore he didn't care for that ; and, as they were hun- 
gry, they would have it. He then dismounted and 
entered the front end of the cart to search for the 
provision ; but, at the first haul, he uncovered Hun- 
ter, and exclaimed, with a kind of malignant joy, 
"Ah ! you infernal rascal — I have got you now. 
Come out here, and be saying your prayers as fast as 
you can; for you have very few minutes to live." 
Hunter obeyed, of course ; and Fanning, in a minute 
or two, brought out the provisions. 

It was Fanning's design to dispose of Hunter at 
once, and was giving his orders to that effect ; but 
some of his men remarked to him that, as they were 
very hungry, they had better eat first, and let " the 
poor devil" have a little time to prepare for death. 
To this proposal. Fanning and the rest agreed ; and, 
throwing the rope, with which he was to be hung, at 
his feet, they told him that he had only fifteen min- 
utes to live. Then they all stacked their arms 
against a large tree, close by, and set their grinders 
to work in good earnest, taking care to keep Hunter 
between them and the cart. In this situation, while 
trying to pray, he was trying to watch, and at the 



COL. DAVID FANNING. 275 

same time, be prepared to act if occasion should offer. 
The first thought that came into his mind, was to 
seize a gun, and sell his life as dearly as he could ; 
but the same thought started up in Fanning's mind 
at the same'moment ; and he said to his men, " Stand 
by your guns, or that rascal will get one and kill 
some of us before we know what we are about." He 
next thought of the "Bay Doe," and a swelling emo- 
tion of hope arose in his bosom, that if he could only 
get on her back, there might be some probability of 
his escape ; but even a look that way, would reveal 
his intentions, and quench the last ray of hope. 

Before the fifteen minutes were expired, one of the 
men, by the name of Small, rose up with his gun in 
his hand ; and Hunter begged that he would intercede 
with Fanning to spare his life. As they conversed 
together they, unconsciously perhaps to themselves, 
advanced a few feet, and this brought them close to 
the Bay Doe, where she was standing with her bridle 
loosely thrown on a bush. Upon Small's telling him 
that there was no hope for him, he leaped forward, 
vaulted into Fanning's saddle, and throwing himself 
forward, lay as flat on her shoulders as he could. 
With his left hand, he disengaged, or took up the 
bridle ; but the mare, unwilling, perhaps, to leave the 
other horses, did not start at once. Orders were in- 
stantly given to shoot him ; and Small, though at 
the distance of a few paces, fired at him without 
effect. The firing of the gun started the mare at full 
speed ; and, she being Fanning's favorite nag, he was 
about as anxious for her safety as he was for the 



276 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

death of the rider. Hunter said afterwards that, as 
he darted oif, he heard Fanning telling them to kill 
the rascal, but take care and not kill his mare. As 
he lay so close to the mare's withers, it required a 
very good marksman, or very good luck, to miss her 
and hit the rider, and three more guns were fired at 
him, but he was still unhurt. He heard the bullets 
whistling by him on every side ; but his only chance 
was to keep his position and go ahead. 

A fifth shot lodged a ball in the fleshy part of his 
shoulder, which disabled his arm, but so intense was 
the excitement of his mind, that he was hardly aware 
of the injury. William Kerr, Fanning's brother-in- 
law, was the one who shot him ; but this was not 
generally known until some time after. He pressed 
forward and was closely pursued for a mile, but when 
they lost sight of him he began to breathe more 
freely, and he saw the blood running down the mare's 
shoulder. The first thought which passed through 
his mind, was that the mare must be badly wounded, 
and if so, his case might still be a hopeless one. 
After a moment's examination, he ascertained that 
the wound was not in the mare but in himself. A 
slug had lodged in the lower part of the shoulder and 
his arm was nearly or quite powerless. He kept the 
road for two or three miles, when he turned into the 
w^oods and rode ten miles further to the house of Na- 
thaniel Steed, bleeding profusely all the way. As 
soon as he alighted he fainted ; and Steed collected a 
party of men to guard him. He also sent for a phy- 
sician who dressed his wound, and in a few days he 



COL. DAVID FANNING. 277 

was sent to Salisbury, where the ball was extracted, 
and he got well. 

In the hurrj of pursuit, Fanning had neglected to 
notice, or to trace the blood which marked the route 
of Hunter, and continued up the road to Hunter's 
house. Finding that Hunter had escaped, and that 
his mare, with the brace of pistols presented to him 
by Major Craig, at Wilmington, were lost, he deter- 
mined to wreak his vengeance on Hunter's family. 
After plundering the house, he took Mrs. Hunter, 
then far advanced in pregnancy, and all of Hunter's 
negroes, and conducted them to a lonely place in the 
woods in the county of Moore, on Bear creek. From 
this place he despatched a messenger to Hunter with 
an offer to return his wife and negroes if Hunter 
would send back his mare and pistols. Hunter 
returned for answer, that the mare had been sent 
away and he could not get her. This answer was 
delivered to Fanning in the evening of the fifth day 
after he had taken up camp in the woods in Moore. 
The sun was about half an hour high when the answer 
was returned, and Fanning immediately mounted and 
went off, taking with him Hunter's negroes and leav- 
ing Mrs. Hunter alone. Smally, after proceeding a 
short distance, returned to Mrs. Hunter and informed 
her where she would find a path near the camp which 
led to a house not far distant. Mrs. Hunter pro- 
ceeded to the house, where she was kindly treated, 
and from which she was sent home. It is probable, 
from this conduct of Smally, that Hunter's entreaties 
at the cart had weighed upon his feelings, and that 

2J: 



278 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

when he fired on Hunter, he intentionally missed 
him. " Hunter was still living when Judge Murphy 
collected his information, and had long resided in 
South Carolina, on the Pedee river, above Mars' 
Bluff. He was a man of respectability and wealth, 
and his adventure with Fanning had not then ceased 
to be an interesting topic of conversation to his 
friends." 

That the blood of the Bay Doe has been well 
known and highly appreciated ever since, is proved 
from the following facts. 

Some forty years ago, more or less. Colonel M , 

a gentleman in one of the neighboring counties, who 
took much delight in the amusements of the turf, and 
who attained a great deal of celebrity among the sport- 
ing gentry of the State, had a mare which, from her 
blood, he called the Bay Doe, and which never was 
beat, except when she flew the track, a thing which 
she was very apt to do. On one occasion, when 
heavy bets were pending, she flew the track ; and in 
her reckless flight, bounded like a deer over a very 
high fence, which caused her to fall, and crippled 
her so badly that it was supposed she never could be 
run again. An important race was soon after to 

take place in Salisbury, which Colonel M , as a 

matter of course, attended, and took her with him ; 
but, as she was still a little lame, he had no thought 
of putting her on the track. A friend, or an intimate 
acquaintance of his, a gentleman who lived in an ad- 
joining county, by unfortunate bets of the kind, or 
in some other way, had so far reduced his property 



COL. DAVID FANNING. 279 

that he thought it necessary to remove with his 
family to the far west, and was in Salisbury on his 
way to the west when the races came on. Without 
consultation or enquiry, he at once bet five hundred 
dollars on the Bay Doe ; and when he told Colonel 

M what he had done, he replied that he was 

very sorry to hear it; for, as the mare was not 
yet entirely recovered from her lameness, she could 
not be run, and he would lose his money. However, 
they concluded, about midnight or after, when every 
body else was asleep, that they would go out with 
her, nearly a mile and a half from town, and take 
her round the path to see whether it would be at all 
worth while to enter her for the next day's race ; 
but she flew the track again, threw the rider and 
dashed back, or rather flew back to town as if all 
the witches in creation had been after her. From 
this exhibition of her recruited strength and agility, 

Colonel M concluded that he would give his 

friend a chance, at all events, and put her on the 
track. Contrary to all expectation, she behaved 
very genteely, indeed, and "swept stakes." This 
lucky bet so far relieved the gentleman from his 
embarrassments that he at once gave out his removal 
to the west, and returned with his family to their 
former neighborhood. 

Not more than two or three years ago, a suit was 
decided in Randolph Court, Judge Battle on the 
bench, which depended on proving the stock of the 
Bay Doe, and shows that her blood is to this day 
well known and highly valued in the county. It is 



280 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

a wonder that horses have not been advertised under 
the name of the Red Buck, and tracing their pedi- 
gree back to Fanning's stock, or blooded mare^ sell- 
ing for hundreds of dollars because they are de- 
scended from Fanning's Bay Doe. People in this 
country have been giving immense prices for "blooded 
horses," English horses, when we have horses in this 
country that hav^o as much blood and as good blood 
as those which are imported from Europe or any 
other continent. 

The Bay Doe saved Hunter's life on another oc- 
casion, and did it by performing a feat, which is well 
worthy of record ; or at least, such is the tradition 
in the neighborhood, and it probably has some 
foundation in truth. It is said that when he was 
riding the Bay Doe, on the high ground, south of 
Deep river, and not far above the Buffalo ford, where 
the village of Franklinville now stands, he was like 
to be overtaken by some of Fanning's men. He first 
attempted to gain the ford; but found they were 
heading him in that direction. He then turned his 
course up the river, but they were there ready to 
receive him. The only alternative was to surrender, 
which would be certain and instant death, or to make 
a desperate plunge down a precipice, some fifty feet 
high into the river. He chose the latter, and escaped 
unhurt. The descent is not perpendicular; but 
makes an angle with the horizon, probably, of sixty 
degrees. It is also rough and craggy. Any one who 
will look at it from the road, on the north side of the 
river, will say that it was a greater feat of horseman- 



COL. DAVID FANNING. 281 

ship than that of General Putnam in riding down 
the stone steps at the church. It was such a daring 
adventure that his pursuers, though they rode like 
Tartars, were mounted on the best of horses, and 
were burning with revenge, would not dare to follow 
him, but stopped short, in a kind of amazement, and 
contented themselves with firing two or three pistols 
after him. As there was no level ground at the 
bottom of the descent, he plunged right into the 
river and turned down the stream, sometimes swim- 
ming and sometimes on terra firma or floundering 
over rocks, until he found a place where he got out 
on the north side and made his escape. 

Very few of Fanning's officers died a natural 
death ; and not more than two or three of them, so 
far as I have learned, ever became citizens of even 
common respectability. Major John Reins, Jr., was 
in 1819 living in Tennessee, very poor, and keeping 
a mill. Richard Edwards was killed at Kirk's farm 
the week before the battle of Cane creek. Edward 
Edwards, his brother, who then took the command, 
was killed the next week at Lindley's mill. Mere- 
dith Edwards was indicted for treason about the 
beginning of 1782. John Reins, Sr., was killed at 
Lindley's mill. John Eagle was shot or hanged 
near Pedee. James Price was hanged near the 
same place. David Jackson was hanged by Colonel 
Lopp near Fork creek in the lower end of Randolph 
county. Thomas Darke was hanged at Hillsboro' in 
1782. John Willison fled to Pennsylvania, and 

lived very poor. John Lindley, the same. Stephen 
24* 



282 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

Walker was shot in April, in 1782, by Colonel Ghol- 
son, on Deep river. James Lindley was shot near 
the mountains ; and, as I understood, Simon Lindley, 
the same. Others say that he was shot in his own 
neighborhood, under the suspicion that he had mur- 
dered his wife. William Lindley — Ignatius WoUas- 
ton fled to Pennsylvania, where he was alive long 
after the war, and was a bricklayer by trade. Thomas 
Blair removed to the mountains and settled on New 
river, where he built iron works and became rich. 
Thomas Rickets and Thomas Eastridge were indicted 
for treason. 



LEAVES THE UNITED STATES FOR THE BRITISH 

POSSESSIONS. 

Soon after the above transaction. Fanning left the 
state and went among his Tory friends in South 
Carolina. When I first came into this country I 
was told by some of the old men that, after going 
into South Carolina, and even into some parts of Geor- 
gia, where the Tories had been most numerous, but 
n')t meeting with the countenance which he expected, 
he returned to his old range in this state. The tide 
was turning so fast, however, that he found it not 
very safe to remain; and leaving immediately, he 
went to Charleston where he joined the British army. 
From Charleston he went to St. Augustine, where he 
embarked for the British possessions in North Ame- 
rica. I have been told that he went first to Canada, 
but being dissatisfied with the country or the people, 



COL. DAVID FANNING. 283 

he went to Nova Scotia and made his residence at 
Digbj. He must have resided for some time in St. 
Johns, on the island of New Brunswick, for I see it 
stated in the University Magazine, that he had been 
a member of Assembly from Queen's county, on that 
Island ; and I have other evidence that he resided 
there for a length of time. In fact, from some trans- 
actions in which he was more deeply concerned than 
anybody else, and which seem to pre-suppose a resi- 
dence of some length, I had got the impression that, 
after leaving the United States, he had spent the 
greater part of his time in St. Johns. With the pen- 
sion which he received from the British Government, 
he was enabled to live where he pleased and to main- 
tain a style of living which would introduce him to 
the first classes of society. For a time he became very 
popular in St. Johns, and gained the public confidence, 
perhaps, as much as almost any other man there. 
For a number of years he conducted with great pro- 
priety, and by his obliging manners and correct de- 
portment, he ingratiated himself with all classes, so 
that he was extremely popular; and had he continued 
in that course long enough, he could have commanded 
the public confidence to almost any extent. I have 
been told that he even made a profession of religion 
and connected himself with the Scotch Presbyterian 
church; and happy would it have been for some 
others as well as for himself, if he had really been 
what he professed to be ; but according to the sacred 
maxim, the tree is known by its fruits, and the hope of 
the hypocrite shall perish. 



284 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 



SUBSEQUENT HISTORY. 

Ten or twelve years ago, when at the house of 
Duncan Murchison, of Moore county, he told me that 
in 1828, he went to Canada and the British posses- 
sions in North America, partly on business, and 
partly on a visit to his friends ; and that while at the 
house of a friend, in St. Johns, with whom he stayed 
a few days, as Fanning was living there at the time, 
he remarked that, before he left home, some of his 
neighbors had requested him to see Fanning, and that 
he had, himself, some desire to see him, merely as a 
matter of curiosity, however, and not from any sort 
of regard for the man ; but his friend told him, with 
a tone of ^ome indignation, that if he went to see 
Fanning, he must leave his house ; and then gave him, 
in substance the following account. His popularity 
had once, and for a number of years, been almost 
unbounded, but by his villainous conduct, he had ren- 
dered himself so odious that he was shunned by all 
the better portion of society, as if he were infected 
with the plague. Some time after going to that 
country, he pretended to become religious, and joined 
the Scotch Presbyterian church. His oldest son was 
also a lluling Elder in the same church, and was 
highly esteemed for his moral worth and his consist- 
ency of character ; but a mere profession of religion 
will not secure any man against the outbreakings of 
his depraved nature, and especially if he has been 
early and long accustomed to do evil. In the sum- 



COL. DAVID FANNING. 285 

mer and fall of 1800, when he was some forty-four or 
fortj-five years old, he committed a rape on a little 
girl about fourteen years of age, the only daughter, 

and, if I mistake not, the only child of Judge S , 

one of the most respectable citizens in the place ; and 
it was done under circumstances of great agravation. 
It was on the Sabbath, and when the rest of the 
family were all at church. When the Judge left the 
private sanctuary of his home for the sanctuary of 
God, not thinking proper, for some reason or other, 
to leave his house without any person in it, left his 
daughter, but locked the front door, and told her not 
to open it or admit any person until he returned. 
On his way to church he was met by Fanning, with 
his family ; and they w^alked together, conversing 
freely and familiarly as usual, until they came near 
the church door, when Fanning remarked that he had 
forgotten his hymn book and must go back for it. 
Then, asking his own daughter for the key of his 
house door, he started back ; but instead of going 

home, he went to the house of Judge S , and 

knocked at the door. The daughter, not knowing 
yet who was there, spoke through the key-hole, and 
told him that she could not open the door, for the 
family were gone to church, and she could not admit 
any person until they returned ; but he replied, " My 
daughter, let your uncle Fanning in : he w^ants to 
talk to you a little this morning ; and surely you are 
not afraid of him." On hearing his well known voice, 
and feeling for him that respect w^hich was then 
shown him by every body in the place, without any 



286 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

sort of mistrust or apprebension, she opened the door, 
when he seized her and committed the brutal act. 

He had relied on his popularity to screen him from 
justice ; and the law could not be enforced. The 
court consisted of four or five judges, three of whom 
constituted a quorum; and the aggrieved father, at 
at once, got a warrant for his apprehension ; but the 
sheriff refused to act in the case, and said it would 
be folly to make the attempt; for so great was Fan- 
ning's influence with the populace that, he had no 
doubt, they would raise a general mob for his rescue. 
There were a few soldiers in the place ; but they were 
not sufficient. The sheriff therefore, advised him to 
get an order from the Governor, for a regiment of 
soldiers stationed on another part of the Island, and 
he did so. Fanning was then apprehended, and 
brought to trial. Without any difficulty, his guilt 
was proved, and he was condemned to be hung ; but 
when the day was named for his execution, he pre- 
tended to be very penitent, and confessed that he was 
a great sinner. He said it was a solemn thing for a 
man to die ; and begged that the court would defer 
the execution as long as possible, that he might have 
time to make his peace with his Maker. In this way, 
he so worked upon the feelings of the court that, 
without suspecting any design to procure his pardon 
or effect his rescue, they prolonged the time some two 
or three months, and he was remanded back to prison. 
As soon as this modification of the sentence was 
granted, and sufficient time allowed, his friends, who 
had a vessel waiting in the harbor, but secretly or 



COL. DAVID TANNINa. 287 

under pretence of other business, sent it to England, 
with an address to the king, which had been prepared 
for the purpose, and a petition for his pardon, which 
was signed by all his friends. The address to the 
king was, no doubt, prepared by his lawyer, and from 
data furnished by Fanning himself. In his letter to 
the Rev. Roger Veitz, dated May 15th, 1822, he 
says, he had a narrative of the transactions of the 
war, in both North and South Carolina ; and in the 
next paragraph, he calls it a Journal. The address, 
no doubt, gave a sketch of his life, and portrayed in 
in strong colors, the leading facts contained in this 
Journal. It must have been published ; for Murchison 
told me that he procured a copy, and intended to 
bring it home with him, but unfortunately lost it by 
the way. He said he had read it, however, and that 
it was not at all reliable, or, to use his own off-hand 
expression at the time, " It was full of lies, from be- 
ginning to end." I understood Mr. Murchison to 
say, that Fanning went to England himself; but hav- 
ing then no thought of ever publishing any thing of 
the kind, I was not as particular as I would other- 
wise have been, and may be mistaken in regard to 
that matter ; but from several circumstances, I have 
no doubt that he did go in the ship provided for his 
benefit, and returned as soon as he obtained the 
king's pardon. 

After having broken jail or been forcibly taken 
out of it, he could not have remained with safety in 
the island until he got his pardon ; and it was pro- 
bably while in England that Charles Cook offered 



288 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

him fifty pounds sterling for the privilege of publish- 
ing the Journal. In the address he professes to 
give the king a history of his services during the 
war ; but many things, Murchison said, were en- 
tirely misstated, and those which were substantially 
true were greatly magnified. It was artfully pre- 
pared, and after giving a high coloring to facts, he 
concluded by making a strong appeal to the royal 
clemency, and to that magnanimity which British 
monarchs had always shown in the protection of 
British subjects. He asked the king, if for one so 
insignificant, he could doom to the gallows a man 
who had always been so faithful to the crown, and 
who had rendered his Majesty such important ser- 
vices. The clemency of kings is often capricious, 
and a regard to their interest as often prevails over 
justice. The petition was granted ; and Fanning, 
notwithstanding all his murders and villainies, was 
permitted to live. His oldest son, who was a ruling 
elder in the church, and an estimable man, was so 
mortified by his father's conduct, that he immediately 
left the country, and had not been heard of in t\venty 
years. 

To some it may seem incredible that Fanning, 
under all the circumstances, having been for some 
years a member of the Legislature, and ranked high 
as a military oflScer, holding at the time an undis- 
puted membership in the church, and occupying a 
respectable position in the better class of society, 
could have been such a monster, or could have com- 
mitted an act of such baseness, in defiance of public 



COL. DAVID FANNING. 289 

opinion and regardless of all those motives by which 
men are usually influenced ; but that he did commit 
the crime ; that he was condemned to be hung ; and 
that he was pardoned either by the King or by the 
Governor, is beyond a doubt ; for it is confirmed by 
other testimony, and by such testimony as will 
hardly be called in question. I have in my posses- 
sion a letter written by Mrs. Catharine Dayton, a 
very intelligent and respectable lady, who was living 
in the town of St. Johns at the time of the above 
transactions, in which she incidentally mentions 
Tanning's crime, condemnation and pardon. Mrs. 
Dayton was the sister-in-law, by marriage, of Mrs. 
Balfour, the widow of Colonel Andrew Balfour, 
whom Fanning had so wantonly and barbarously mur- 
dered. She had evidently enjoyed the advantages 
of a good education and had a considerable share of 
literary taste. A great intimacy appears to have 
subsisted between the two sisters-in-law, and a pretty 
regular correspondence was kept up between them 
while they both lived. 

After the death of Colonel Balfour, his widow, 
who was a Miss Dayton, and was a native of New 
Port, in Rhode Island, removed to this country with 
her two little children, and settled in Salisbury, 
where she lived for many years, enjoying in a high 
degree the respect and the confidence of the com- 
munity. About the same time, or soon after, her 
brother, Samuel Dayton, removed, with his family, 
to North Carolina, and settled in the same place ; 
but he did not live long; and after his death, his 
25 



290 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

■widow returned with her children to her friends in 
the north. How she came to reside, as she did, for 
several years in the town of St. Johns, I have not 
learned, but for some twenty years a regular though 
not very frequent correspondence was kept up 
between these two widowed sisters-in-law ; and it is 
extremely interesting as a confidential and warm- 
hearted interchange of congenial sentiments and 
mutual sympathies. The whole letter, to which 
allusion has been made, like all she wrote, would 
very well bear publication ; but we give only what 
relates to the case of Fanning. It was addressed to 
Mrs. Balfour, in Salisbury, N. C, and is dated 

>S'^. Johns, Neiv Brunswich, 
March 2Sth, 1802. 

"When I came here, and long after, your arch 
enemy, Fanning, lived here ; but I never saw him. 
In the summer of 1800, the Grand Jury found a bill 
against him for an attempt on the chastity of a little 
girl, and he was condemned to die ; but the Master 
and brethern of the Lodge of which he was a most 
unworthy member, interceded so warmly for him 
that the Governor consented to spare his wretched 
life upon the condition of his quitting the province 
immediately. I have been told that he once shocked 
and affronted the Governor very much by boasting 
in his presence of his conduct to your dearest friend." 

This testimony of Mrs. Dayton is sufficiently ex- 
plicit ; and, so far as the main facts are concerned, 
it is decisive. Her good sense and general intelli- 



COL. DAVID FANNING. 291 

gence leave no room to suppose that she could be 
misinformed or mistaken; and her standing in so- 
ciety preclude all suspicion that she would fabricate 
or misrepresent the facts. From some incidental 
expressions in her letters, I infer that she was a 
member of the Episcopal Church, but I am not cer- 
tain. She often spoke in the highest terms of Dr. 
McCorkle, who was a Presbyterian minister, and, 
during her residence in Salisbury, preached, statedly, 
half his time in that place. Thus much we have said 
respecting Mrs. Dayton's character and standing to 
satisfy the reader that her statements are perfectly 
reliable ; and that the facts under consideration, in- 
credible as they may seem, may be regarded as 
placed beyond a doubt. 

She says nothing about his publishing an account 
of his services or making any effort to save his life ; 
but her mention of the matter, being merely inci- 
dental and cursory, she aimed to state only the main 
facts. In his letter to the Rev. E-oger Yeits, under 
date of May 15th, 1822, he says, of the Journal 
which he kept during the war: "I was offered by 
Charles Cook, in England, fifty pounds sterling to 
have it published, and I refused him ;" but he may 
have refused to let his Journal be published, and yet 
he may have published some account of his services. 
These are, however, matters of such little importance, 
when the main facts are established, that we may 
leave the reader to form his own opinion or await the 
developments of time. If any one of more leisure 
and greater facilities than the present writer has or 



292 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

is likely to have, thought it worth his while to extend 
his enquiries into those parts where Fanning spent 
the last forty years of his life, and where he ended 
his days, unenvied and unregretted, he might proba- 
bly get a full history of his life, from beginning to 
end, at least so far as his statements could be received, 
and possibly some facts which would be desirable in 
a history of the state ; but the task is one which 
those who choose may undertake. 

Either Mrs. Dayton or Mr. Murchison may have 
been misinformed in regard to some things of minor 
importance ; or both accounts may be strictly true 
in almost every particular. Mrs. Dayton says that 
the Grand Jury found a bill against him for making 
an attempt on the chastity of a little girl ; but this 
we presume is only her modest way of expressing an 
unpleasant fact ; for, I was not aware that by any 
law, of England or America, a man would be con- 
demned to the gallows for merely making an attempt 
on the chastity of any female. She says nothing 
about his going to England ; but simply that he was 
pardoned or had his life spared by the Governor at 
the intercession of the Master and brethren of the 
Masonic Lodge, and on condition that he would forth- 
with leave the country. He did not, however, leave 
the country, or not permanently ; for he was there 
some twenty years after, and died, in 1825, at Digby, 
on the Island of Nova Scotia. If he went to Eng- 
land at all, he was probably there when she wrote ; 
and she may have understood that he had left on 
condition of having his life spared ; for if we allow 



COL. DAVID TANNING. 293 

the time usually taken up in trying capital cases, 
this was very soon after he left, and every thing was 
yet in confusion. 

The heart sickens at the contemplation of such 
atrocities, and such a character ; and we feel all the 
time an anxious wish to meet with something of a 
humane or generous kind to relieve the painful feel- 
ings which are so constantly and so intensely excited. 
We would not do him injustice ; but if there were 
any bright spots in the whole course of his life, they 
have not come to our knowledge. We are disposed, 
however, to attribute all his misdemeanors and the 
lasting reproach which he brought upon himself, to 
the want of education, and especially to the want of 
moral and religious training. That his education 
had been utterly neglected appears from his letters — 
one of which has been already given ; and we now 
give another, not for any important facts which it 
contains, but in proof that he was entirely illiterate 
and that he had not even enjoyed the benefits of 
good society. When Judge Murphy, a few years 
before his death, was engaged in collecting the inci- 
dents of the war in this State, he made an effort 
through the agency of the late Archibald McBride, 
of Moore county, to obtain from Fanning himself 
what information he could in relation to his own his- 
tory. He got nothing, however, except the following 
letter, furnished by Governor Swain for the University 
Magazine, which is so characteristic and so much of 
a literary curiosity that we give an exact copy with- 
out note or comment. 

25* 



294 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

Bighy, Ibth May, 1822. 

Dear Sir : — The Letters you sent me Appears to 
be a request of some gentleman in North Carolina or 
Elsewhere to get holt of my Journal or the narrative 
of my Servis, During the time of the American Re- 
bellion. I arn under necessity of saying that I 
would not Let no man have it on any pretences 
whatsoever — Unless I was well informed of the use 
that was to be made of it. 

You can say to the gentleman that I now have a 
narritive of the Transactions of that war, Both of 
North and South Carolinas, and if any Gentleman 
wishes to know from me of any particular transac- 
tion or the Date, by pointing it out to me, I may 
give Information of it, if it Don't operate against 
my Coming back to look after my property — you 
may say that my Journal contains more than one 
Quire of Fools Cap paper Closely wrote, and it would 
take a good pens man a month to write it over, fit to 
send to the world abroad. 

I was offered by Charles Cook, in England, fifty 
pounds sterling for my Journal to have it published, 
and I Refused him. Colonel McDougal Desired me 
not to Insert in it any thing of his Servessas, as he 
Intended goining back to North Carolina to Live, 
and he knows that I have a Narrative of all the 
Transactions. If he should want any thing of the 
kind from me he would write me himself. 

If any person wishes to prove any thing false re- 
specting the conduct of the Torys, let him point out 



COL. DAVID FANNING. 295 

what it is, and I -will endeavor to give him the 
truth. 

I am, dear sir, 

Your obedient servant, 

David Fanning. 

P. S. — I believe there is some more meaning in 
the letters than I understand, the word Memorial of 
mj life, or a word to that effect, that I don't under- 
stand. I have hurt my ankil and knee so that I can- 
not come to see jou. Ross said you wanted to answer 
them by the post. 

To THE Rev. Roger Veits. 

The history of Fanning shows the importance of 
both mental and moral culture. While revolutions 
in government are in progress there is nothing but 
anarchy ; and in such a state of things, nothing ex- 
cept the restraints of religion can prevent men of 
superior powers, from employing their energies to the 
injury of their fellow citizens. Under different cir- 
cumstances and with a different training. Fanning 
might have been as much distinguished for his moral 
integrity and his generous impulses, his high sense of 
honor and his manly bearing, as he was for his cru- 
elty, baseness, and utter contempt for the claims of 
humanity. A gentleman, in Moore county, closes a 
letter which I received from him not long since, in 
the following language, and the reader will probably 
think with the writer, that it is both true and appro- 
priate. 



296 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

" Having pursued a kind of predatory warfare of 
the * black mail' character, up to the close of the 
Revolution, Fanning was compelled to fly the country 
and take refuge in one of the British provinces, 
where he ended a life of infamy and disgrace. 

"Manning's career in life is a sad commentary on 
the loose code of morals under which he was trained, 
and a warning to those parents who neglect to instil 
into the minds of their offspring the immutable prin- 
ciples of truth and religion, which alone will serve as 
a ' light to their feet and a lamp to their path.' 

" Had David Fanning received an education cor- 
responding to his native talents and been otherwise 
properly trained, instead of being ranked, as he was, 
among the vilest of the vile, his history would now, 
probably, be sought for as a model of all that is gen- 
tle and amiable." 

There can be little doubt that, with a proper men- 
tal culture and the full development of his moral 
powers, under a Christian influence and during the 
formative period of his character, he would have been 
as much distinguished by his virtues as he has been 
by his vices ; but having spent the first half of his 
earthly existence without intellectual improvement, 
and in a moral atmosphere, where " all death lives 
and all life dies," he was a scourge to humanity while 
living, and a by-word and a name of reproach when 
dead. 



COL. ANDREW BALFOUR. 297 



COLONEL ANDREW BALFOUR. 

Among those who fell a sacrifice in the cause of 
freedom, and who, for their self-devotion and their 
patriotic services, deserve to be remembered, was 
Andrew Balfour. Though a foreigner bj birth, he 
had made this his adopted country, and showed him- 
self, from the first, a warm and decided advocate for 
the rights of man. He was a native of Edinburgh, 
in Scotland, and came over to America about four 
years before the Declaration of Independence. Like 
many others, he was an adventurer to the New 
World, but proved to be of kindred spirit with those 
who resolved to be free or die. 

It is to be regretted that he lived so short a time 
in the country and that so little is known of his his- 
tory. Nearly all we know of him is gleaned from a 
family correspondence which was carried on, for seve- 
ral years, between him and his friends, both in Scot- 
land and in this country. From this correspondence 
it appears that his family were in good circumstances, 
and had a respectable standing in the city of Edin- 
burgh. In a country where the distinctions of birth 
and the gradations of society are so scrupulously ob- 
served as they are in Scotland, a man who could be, 
as it appears incidentally from these letters, old An- 
drew Balfour was, on terms of social equality with 
such families as the Erskines, the Huttons, the Mont- 
criefs, and others of equal notoriety, must have be- 
longed to the same class ; and that he was in good 



298 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

circumstances, may also be inferred from another fact 
casually mentioned in the freedom and confidence of 
this familiar correspondence. When his son, John 
Balfour, who had been, for a few years in this coun- 
try, engaged in business, returned to Edinburgh, 
merely on a visit to his friends, the old man, as ho 
himself tells Andrew in a letter, gave him £200, or a 
thousand dollars, to enable him to carry on his busi- 
ness here on a scale more in accordance with his 
wishes; and to his daughter Margaret, who was 
coming over to this country with him, to bring her 
brother Andrew's motherless and only child, he gave 
<£400, or two thousand dollars ; but a man who could 
thus give, at one time, three thousand dollars to two 
of his children, for their accommodation and without 
inconvenience to himself, if not wealthy when com- 
pared with many others in the far-famed metropolis 
of Scotland, he must have been very independent in 
his circumstances, or engaged, at the time, in a very 
lucrative business ; for he seems to have been a very 
prudent man, and would not have heedlessly embar- 
rassed himself to accommodate his children, who were 
doing a respectable business for themselves in a for- 
eign land. 

When Andrew arrived to maturity, he engaged, 
for a time, in mercantile business with Robert Scott 
Montcrief, and then set up on his own footing. About 
this time he married Miss Janet McCormick, a lady 
who had been well educated and accustomed to move 
in the first circle of society. He thus became 
connected by afiinity, as he had probably been 



COL. ANDREW BALFOUR. ' 299 

before by blood, with some of the most influential 
families in the city ; but the fair prospects with 
which he commenced life were not to be of long 
continuance, whether it was owing to the want of 
a sufficient acquaintance with the details of business, 
or to those unavoidable losses which mercantile men 
so often sustain, or to the misconduct of others who 
were in his employ, does not appear ; but he soon 
found it necessary to close his business and make 
some other arrangement. In this juncture of his 
affairs, so trying to one of his temperament and his 
connexions in society, he was impelled, by his great 
sensitiveness and by his high-toned feelings of honor, 
to take a step which he soon regretted and which 
was quite unfortunate both for him and for his 
friends. Without trying to do the best he could, or 
even waiting to know the worst, he set sail for 
America, leaving his young wife with an infant 
child to the care of his and her friends, and his 
property, including his notes and papers of every 
description, to his creditors. He did not even let 
his wife or any body else know that he was going 
away ; but left a letter for her and another for his 
friend, Robert S. Montcrief, informing him of the 
fact that he had just sailed for the American shore ; 
that he had done so because he could not bear the 
shame of bankruptcy and poverty at home ; and 
that his keys, books and papers of every description 
would be found in such a place. This was exceed- 
ingly unfortunate ; for, as they informed him after- 
wards, if he had remained and settled up his business 



300 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

himself, they would not have lost more than one 
shilling in the pound, or one twentieth of the whole, 
which, they said, they would have borne without a 
murmur ; but having gone off without leaving his 
property in the care of any one, or duly authorizing 
any of his friends to act for him, so much of it was 
lost by the peculations of servants, the costs of legal 
processes and in various ways, that in the final 
settlement, they did not realize more than one third 
of the amount. 

By this step, however, he did not lose the confi- 
dence of his friends ; and his creditors imputed it to 
his having too high a sense of honor, or too great a 
sensitiveness in regard to his character. The follow- 
ing extract from a letter addressed to him by Robert 
S. Montcrief, a merchant of Edinburgh, and the gen- 
tleman with whom he had first been engaged in busi- 
ness, and now one of his creditors, bears an explicit 
and honorable testimony to his character. It is dated, 
Edinburgh, July 2d, 1773 ; and after such matters 
and things as are usually most prominent in letters of 
friendship, he says, " I should be happy to hear that 
you are successful in business. You will derive some 
advantage from past experience, and learn from that 
not to be too sanguine in your expectations, nor too 
forward in depending upon the honesty of others. 
There never was a time that called for more caution 
and circumspection than the present. I sincerely 
wish you may meet with many of as honest pri7iciples 
as yourself ; for, notwithstanding all that has passed, 
I never could call in question your integrity. I had 



COL. ANDREW BALFOUR. 301 

great confidence in it while we used to do business 
together. I have not changed my opinion of your 
heart, though I regret your too great sensibility and 
sense of honor, whereby, I am persuaded, you were 
led into the step you took." In his answer to the 
above letter, dated Newport, R. I., Nov. 12th, 1772, 
Colonel Balfour, after expressing his gratification at 
receiving such a kind and consoling letter from one 
who had sustained a considerable loss by his failure, 
says, "It gave me the greatest sorrow to hear of the 
bad effects my leaving the country has had upon the 
interests of my friends. I had too little experience 
in business to know or foresee the bad consequences 
of such a step, and too little firmness of mind to sup- 
port the disgrace of a failure, perhaps the reproaches 
of friends, and all the melancholy consequences of 
poverty and dependence. This weakness, which your 
humanity and friendship are pleased to soften with 
the soothing appellations of too great a sensibility 
and a high sense of honor, was the chief cause of my 
flight. Indeed, my dear friend, the greatest conso- 
lation, and comfort I have under all the revolutions 
of fortune, is in the reflection that I never had, have 
not, and, I hope in God, never shall have the smallest 
disposition to any thing that is in the least dishonest, 
or even dishonorable." 

All his letters, written about this time, to his wife, 

his father, and others, with whom he had been in 

habits of intimacy, are in the same strain; and it 

appears to have been his earnest desire, if he could be 

26 



302 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

successful in business, to make up all the losses wLich 
his creditors and friends had sustained by his failure. 

This was his sole object in coming to America, 
and he appears to have made every possible exertion 
for the accomplishment of his purpose. His father, 
■who was also a merchant in Edinburgh, and who ap- 
pears, from all his letters to his son, to have been a 
man of piety and of sound discretion, thus commences 
a letter to him, dated, Edinburgh, Feb. 20th, 1773, 
" Dear Andrew : — L received your very agreeable 
letter, which gave me a great deal of comfort, as I 
see much of God's good providence in it, for which we 
ought to be thankful. As it is plain it was not by 
your own conduct or imprudence it happened, so I 
hope you will ascribe the praise to him." A high- 
minded young Scotchman, raised in affluence, and 
honorably related, both by blood and affinity, could 
not brook the idea of a failure in business, and the 
untold evils to which it would subject him — the scorn 
of enemies, the mortification of friends, and the taunts 
and sneers of rivals. To escape from it, all at once, 
in the agonized state of his feelings, and without ever 
thinking of the consequences to himself, or anybody 
else, he abruptly left the country, and sailed for " the 
land of promise." 

He sailed from Grenock, in Scotland, May 20th, 
1772, in a ship called the Snow George, and arrived 
at Boston on the 18th of July, intending to go by 
water, via Philadelphia, to Charleston, in South Caro- 
lina, where his brother, John Balfour, was already 
engaged in business; but while waiting for a vessel 



COL, ANDREW BALFOUR. 303 

to sail, he accidentally became acquainted with a man 
by the name of John Thompson, a merchant in the 
city of New York, who had gone to Boston in his gig, 
with a single horse, and having transacted his busi- 
ness, was now ready to return. Being desirous of 
company, and having met with a countryman, an ad- 
venturer like himself, with whom he professed to be 
well pleased, he readily offered him a seat in his gig, 
and the offer was as readily accepted. Thompson 
was from the south of Scotland, and had been only a 
few years in America. Being a man of liberal edu- 
cation, Balfour says, he was very companionable and 
prepossessing in his manners, a member of the Pres- 
byterian church, strictly moral in his deportment, and 
very popular in New York. As they were from the 
same country, they contracted a great intimacy and 
friendship as travelling companions; and, on their 
arrival in New York, he invited Balfour to stay with 
him at his boarding house until his trunks should ar- 
rive, which, being too heavy to bring with them, he 
had left in Boston to be sent round by water. 

During this time, which was thirteen days, they 
became such boon companions, that Thompson pro- 
posed to take him in as a partner, and to give him a 
full third of the profits, provided he would put in 
what little money he had, and give his whole attention 
to the business. The partnership was soon formed, 
and they commenced business with flattering pros- 
pects. Thompson was, at this time, a young man, 
or a single man ; but soon after married a Miss 
Bobbins, the daughter of a clergyman in Connecti- 



304 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

cut. ,IIe stood high in the public confidence, and 
was doing an extensive business, having three coun- 
try stores and a ship or two, at sea. By submitting 
his bonds, book accounts, &c., to Balfour's inspec- 
tion, he made him believe that he had a clear capital 
of five thousand pounds sterling ; and that there 
were no claims against him which were due, or 
which he could not promptly meet. Balfour, with 
his characteristic frankness and honesty of intention, 
told him at once that he had been unfortunate in 
business, and that he had no capital, except two 
hundred pounds, or about a thousand dollars, which 
he had brought with him to be prepared for any 
emergency that might arise, or, for any casualty 
that might befall him in a strange land. From such 
a beginning he had high expectations of success, and 
there was apparently no ground for apprehension. 

For a time their mutual friendship and confidence 
were unimpaired; and they seemed to be doing a 
safe and profitable business. In the midst of it, 
however, he received the sad intelligence that his 
wife, whom he had left behind, with an infant at the 
breast, and who had gone to live with her brother, 
Robert McCormick, at Preston Pans, had died of in- 
flammatory fever, June 17th, 1773 ; and, while the 
object of his fondest affection, for whose welfare he 
had been most solicitous, was now taken away, he 
felt all the bitterness of separation. In about a year 
after, he married Miss Elizabeth Dayton, of Newport, 
in Rhode Island, a most estimable young lady, and 
of a very respectable family. By her he had two 



COL. ANDREW BALFOUR. 305 

children, a daughter whom he named Margaret, for 
his mother and sister; and a son whom he called 
Andrew, for himself and his father. As Thompson 
had the most experience in this line of business, and 
was regarded by Balfour as owning the principal 
part of the stock, he either assumed the management, 
or it was conceded to him, as a matter of courtesy, 
and with full confidence in his integrity ; but within 
eighteen months after the partnership was formed, 
he exploded and became insolvent to a considerable 
amount. 

Although Colonel Balfour, had discernment enough 
to see that a storm was coming, before it burst upon 
them, and in time to secure the greater part of what 
was due to him, yet, he sustained a considerable 
loss. What little money he advanced was, at his 
own request, so fixed that Thompson could, in no 
event, be liable for his debts ; and, at Thompson's 
suggestion, was so secured that his creditors could 
not take it from him, -during the two or three years, 
for which the co-partnership was formed. Of course, 
he was not in strict justice bound for Thompson's 
debts, and would not in law, be held liable to his 
creditors. The firm was in fact, a mere nominal 
one; and the creditors, though much chagrined at 
their loss, acquitted Balfour of any fraudulent or 
dishonest conduct. In a letter written to his father 
on this subject, and dated Newport, R. I., January 
3d, 1T75, he says, " I have got it from under the 
hand of my creditors, that I have behaved in an 
honest and honorable manner towards them. It 
26* 



306 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

gives mo particular satisfaction that, disposed as they 
were to use me with rigor and severity, I have not 
afforded them the least opportunity to refuse me an 
honorable testimony to my character." 

We feel tempted here, to give an extract from a 
letter of his pious old father, written when he first 
heard of these disasters ; and we give it as illustra- 
tive of the old man's Christian character, and conse- 
quently, of the religious instruction and training, 
which we suppose he had given to his children. It 
is dated — 

UdinhurgJi, Oct. 20t7i, 1774. 

"My dear Andrew — I received your very melan- 
choly letter of the 23d of May, and we all sincerely 
condole and sympathise with you, and hope you will 
bear your afHictions patiently, as from the hand of a 
good and merciful God, who afflicts us only for our 
good ; and believe in our Lord and Saviour, and pray 
for the forgiveness of your sins in, and through his 
merits and sufferings for us. Then I hope God will 
make the remaining part of your life, as prosperous 
as the by-past part of it has been troublesome, (full of 
trouble,) but though our whole life were troublesome, 
we ought not to repine, as we are promised eternal 
happiness, when we perform our duties sincerely, and 
repent of our sins. Read the first and last chapters 
of Job ; and I hope you will observe the many com- 
forts you have, of which he was deprived. You have 
good health, friends who sincerely condole with, and 
pity you, and a wife who sympathises with you — so 
you have no reason to despair of God's goodness. 



COL. ANDREW BALFOUR. 307 

Read also the 15th chapter of the first Epistle to the 
Corinthians, which gives a description of the Deity, 
and the history of our Saviour ; and especially the 13th 
chapter of John's Gospel to the end of the book." 

It is probable that he had received a liberal educa- 
tion, or, at least, that he had a good knowledge of 
the Latin and Greek classics, and with the common, 
branches of science ; for a man could hardly be 
raised in such a city as Edinburgh, and in the circle 
of society to which he belonged, without some such 
education; for otherwise he could not maintain his 
standing, or feel himself on a par with his associates. 
It is known that Balfour was a good French scholar ; 
and it is therefore presumable that he was not defi- 
cient in other things. The Hon. Augustine H. 
Shephard, our late representative in Congress, has 
informed me, that, when Colonel Balfour was in the 
legislature, in the spring of 1780, a communication 
was received by that body, which was written in. 
French, and that he was the only man there who 
could give it a translation. He read it off readily 
and with great correctness. Mr. Shephard had this 
fact from his father, Jacob Shephard, who was also 
a prominent Whig, and held different offices of pub- 
lic trust, during the war. Jacob Shephard and 
Colonel Balfour lived within two or three miles of 
each other, and were very intimate. He said Bal- 
four had a very valuable library, for that day, and 
for a man who was not engaged in any of the learned 
professions. He always spoke of Balfour in terms 
of the highest respect, as a man who showed a high 



308 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

sense of honor in every thing, very intelligent, very 
patriotic, and had the entire respect and confidence 
of. the community, so far as he was known. If a 
man's family and most intimate friends can appreciate 
his character better than any other, and if their 
regard for him, while living, and their veneration for 
his memory, when dead, are the best evidences of 
his worth, then Colonel Balfour ought not to be for- 
gotten ; for, as will be shown hereafter, there 
were few men, of that day, whose nearest friends and 
most intimate acquaintances were more warmly at- 
tached to them, while they lived, or manifested a 
deeper sorrow for their death. 

Whether he ever made a profession of religion, or 
was in communion with the church, is not known ; but 
the early religious instruction which he had received, 
and the influence of the Christian example which 
had been set him by his pious parents, had, at least, 
the effect of making him moral, conscientious and 
upright in all his transactions and intercourse with 
society. There is now before me a large bundle of 
letters, a family correspondence kept up for a num- 
ber of years, and consisting partly of letters written 
by him to men with whom he had been engaged in 
business, as well as to his most intiinate and confi- 
dential friends ; partly of letters from men who had 
sustained considerable loss by his failures ; and 
partly of letters from friends who lived at a great 
distance from each other, and who spoke of him in 
all the frankness usual in such correspondence ; but 
I have not seen the least suspicion expressed in 



COL. ANDREW BALFOUR. 309 

regard to his integrity or honesty of purpose. From 
all I can learn, here and elsewhere, he was a man of 
sound principles and of enlightened views, of patri- 
otic feelings, of an enterprising character, of a fear- 
less spirit and of strict fidelity to whatever trust was 
reposed in him, whether by his fellow-citizens or by 
his friends in the ordinary transactions of life. 

As soon as the difficulties arising out of his con- 
nection with Thompson were adjusted, he commenced 
business for himself, in a village called Enfield, on 
the Connecticut river, about the latter end of the 
year 1774, and continued there between two and three 
years. What he saved from the failure of Thompson 
and what he got with his wife, would have enabled 
him, in quiet and prosperous times, to do a respect- 
able business, or one which would have enabled him 
to support his family in decency and comfort ; but, 
at that time, the north was the theatre of war, and 
every thing was in confusion. The implements of 
husbandry, if not actually beaten into swords and 
instruments of death, were nearly laid aside as use- 
less for want of time and opportunity to use them ; 
foreign trade, if not entirely cut oiF by the effects of 
the enemy, was reduced to almost nothing ; and men, 
who had families to be provided for, were often com- 
pelled to change their business and resort to any 
honest occupation that would afford them a bare 
subsistance, or leave those who were most dear to 
them and who had the strongest claims on their ex- 
ertions, to take care of themselves. 

About the -beginning of 1777, he went to Charles- 



310 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

ton, in South Carolina, where his brother John had 
been for some years engaged in a profitable busi- 
ness ; and there were several things which now 
induced him to visit the south. The north being 
the seat of war, business of every kind was at a 
stand ; manufactures had not yet commenced ; for- 
eign commerce was cut off; and merchandising, the 
occupation in which he had hitherto been engaged, 
was out of the question ; but the south, being com- 
paratively tranquil, presented a better prospect of 
providing for a family. In addition to these consi- 
derations, his maiden sister, Margaret, and his little 
daughter, Tibby, the only child he had by the wife 
of his youth, were there, and had been for a year or 
more. It was natural that he should wish to see 
them both, but especially his daughter ; and leaving 
his wife and her two children in the care of her 
friends until he could make some comfortable or safe 
arrangement for them in the south, he travelled the 
whole or most of the way to Charleston by land. 
His brother, John Balfour, was a royalist; but it 
does not appear that he had taken any active or pro- 
minent part in the contest. As I infer from some 
incidental remarks or allusions, in the letters now 
before me, Andrew was, from the first, a Whig in 
principle and feeling; but, like many others who 
wavered, or rather remained inactive for a time, not 
from any hesitancy in regard to the principle, but 
from the condition of their families, which seemed to 
have, for the time being, an imperious claim on their 
attention, he became more decided and active as the 
struggle advanced. 



COL. ANDREW BALFOUR. 811 

Whether he took any part in the civil or military 
operations of the north, is not known, but his main 
object in coming south was evidently to make better 
provision for his family; and there seemed to be a 
necessity for doing something. Not only were the 
difficulties then great, but they were every day 
increasing ; and to show the distressed condition of 
the country soQn after he left, it may not be amiss, 
in passing, to notice the great scarcity and high 
prices of provisions, during the next year. In a 
letter written to him by his wife, and dated South 
Kingston, R. L, Oct. 23d, 1778, she tells him that 
corn was then selling at five and six dollars per 
bushel ; in another, dated Feb. 13th, 1779, she says it 
was then selling at ten dollars, and in another dated 
the 1st of June, following, it was selling at twenty to 
thirty dollars per bushel, which was equivalent to 
saying that it was not to be had at all ; and although 
she had procured enough for her family in good time, 
many poor families had to subsist almost entirely with- 
out bread. Whether this extreme scarcity was owing 
to the drought or the ravages of war, is not stated — 
probably to both ; but from the enormous prices of 
bread stuffs, and the extreme severity of the winter, 
which she says was greater than usual, the sufferings 
of all classes, except the most provident and fore- 
handed, must have been immense. 

The South being free from war and comparatively 
tranquil, the two brothers, though belonging to 
opposite parties in the great contest which was 
going on for freedom and Independence, might 



312 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

have prosecuted their business in harmony together, 
as was often done by brothers similarly situated and 
with good success; but no such partnership was 
formed by them and perhaps was not designed. 
The object of Colonel Balfour in going to Charleston 
was part to pay his brother a visit, having never 
seen him since they came to America ; but mainly 
to see his daughter and take her under his own care, 
for we find him soon after at Georgetown, or in the 
vicinity of it, engaged in making salt. As none of 
his letters to his wife and other friends, during this 
period, have been preserved, or if they have it is 
not known by whom, we gather these facts from the 
incidental allusions which she makes in her answers 
to what he had written. Thus in a letter, dated 
March 31st, 1778, she says, "I rejoice at your 
success in making salt, though I am not very san- 
guine in my expectations ; for I have resolved not 
to be disappointed with respect to riches." Under 
what circumstances he engaged in this business and 
with what results, I have not learned, but probably 
he and some other public spirited and enterprizing 
gentlemen, of that region, had been induced to 
undertake it by the pressing wants of the country 
and by the encouragement which the legislative 
authorities had repeatedly given. However this 
may have been, either they did not succeed as they 
expected, or else a supply was obtained from some 
other source ;. for we find him, in a little time, at 
Chevau, to which place his brother John also removed 
either in company with him or soon after, and re- 



COL. ANDREW BALFOUR. 813 

mained there until his death. How long the Colonel 
remained at Chevau we know not; for there are 
long intervals between the letters of his wife, at 
least so far as they have been preserved. Many 
letters were written by him and as many by her 
which were never received. At this period, the 
transmission of letters or papers of any description 
especially to such a distance, was a very uncertain 
business, sometimes the mail was captured by the 
enemy, and often from carelessness or some other 
cause, letters were lost by the way, so that it was 
frequently months and even a year or two, before a 
communication sent either way, though not lost by 
violence or carelessness, arrived at the place of its 
destination. 

Of this she complained bitterly, and adopted the 
expedient of sending to some man who was high in 
ofiQce, or so distinguished in other ways, that his 
name would command respect: — sometimes they were 
sent to the care of Mr. Marshall in Wachovia, or the 
Moravian settlement ; sometimes to the care of Gover- 
nor Nash ; sometimes enclosed in a letter to Governor 
Nash from Dr. Stiles, President of Yale college. 

The first notice we have of Colonel Balfour, in 
North Carolina, is in a letter to his wife, dated 
Salisbury, N. C, July, 1778, in which he tells her 
that he was sometimes there, and sometimes at his 
plantation ; but that he intended to remove, in a 
short time, to the plantation. He did remove to it, 
and with the intention of making such improvements, 
27" 



314 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

as would render it a comfortable home for his 
family. It ultimately became their residence ; but 
the sovereign Disposer of all things, did not permit 
him to enjoy it with them. At this time, he had a 
considerable quantity of land in this state, some in 
the neighborhood of Cheraw, and a number of ser- 
vants. Had he lived, they would all have been in- 
dependent in their circumstances, and happy in the 
enjoyment of their social comforts and relations. 

The plantation to which, we suppose, he refers, in 
the above letter, was one which he had recently, 
bought on the south side of Randolph county, at the 
head waters of Little river or Uwhar, and probably 
adjoining or near to a tract of land, belonging to his 
father. The old man had either taken this land to 
secure a debt, or, what is more likely, had purchased 
it some years before, from the heirs of Lord Gran- 
ville, as men in the older states, have been ever 
since the Independence of the country was obtained, 
in the habit of buying lands in the far west on 
speculation, or as a settlement for their children at 
a future day. It seems that he had either put the 
title deeds of this land, into the hands of Andrew, 
before he left Scotland, or had sent them to him after 
he came to America; for in a letter written to him, 
and dated Edinburgh, Feb. 20th, 1773, he mentions 
these papers and tells him what to do with them. 
He directs him to send them back by his brother 
John, who was expected shortly to pay a visit to his 
friends in Scotland ; and he would then fix the land 
for him, so that in case of any misfortune, his credi- 



COL. ANDREW BALFOUR. 315 

tors could not take it from him, by which we suppose, 
he meant that he would secure it to his children. 

It appears that the original Deed called for ten 
hundred and fifty acres ; but when it came to be re- 
surveyed, according to the corners and limits desig- 
nated, it was found to contain nineteen hundred acres. 
Thus, Mrs. Balfour, in a letter to her husband, dated 
May 4th, 1779, says, " I need not tell you that fil 
am glad you are so far successful as to be able to 
purchase so much land. * * * * What an 
agreeable disappointment to find 1900 instead of 
1050 acres in the old plantation !" By " the old 
plantation," we presume she meant the plantation or 
tract which had belonged to the old man, and had 
now been made over to her husband, or to his chil- 
dren ; but be this as it may, his descendants have 
been living on it ever since, and it is still owned and 
occupied by the third generation. There is some- 
thing quite remarkable in the whole history of this 
afi'air, as will appear in the sequel ; but any further 
details here would only be anticipating what will be 
more appropriate in another place, and cause an 
irksome or useless repetition. 

In this year, 1779, he wrote to his wife that he 
would be ready, in a short time, to go for her, and 
bring her to her new home in this country. When 
replying to this, in a letter already referred to, she 
says, " It is impossible for me to express the joy I 
feel at hearing that you are well, and that you have 
fixed upon a time when you will visit your family. 
I earnestly pray that nothing may happen to disap- 



316 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

point us. After an absence of more than two years 
and a half, to meet will be a pleasure beyond the 
power of words to express. * * * * j j^^yg 
always understood that to be a sickly country, and 
have been anxious on account of your health ever 
since you went there. I have been reading the his- 
tory of the European settlements in America, and 
the author recommended it, not only as one of the 
most pleasant, but one of the most healthy places in 
the world ; from which I am led to think that the 
fact of the inhabitants being sickly is owing to their 
high living ; but, be this as it may, I shall never 
have an objection to living there, or any where else 
that may be most agreeable to your circumstances." 
The anticipations which were now so flattering, and 
so fondly indulged, were never realized, and for 
several reasons, some of which were quite as sad as 
they were imperative. 

During this year, Handolph county was formed, 
and he was chosen as one of the first representatives. 
This is noticed in a letter from his wife, and his name 
stands on the records of the State as a member of 
the Assembly for 1780. Another reason was, that 
before the adjournment of the Assembly, or very soon 
after, the British army had taken Charleston, and 
were advancing through South Carolina toward this 
State; and it was not deemed expedient to remove 
his family here, wdien every thing seemed to indicate 
an approaching time of great and protracted distress, 
while the Eastern States were now comparatively 
tranquil. When the country of his adoption was 



COL. ANDREW BALFOUR. 317 

thus invaded, or threatened with invasion, he felt it 
his duty to share all their dangers with his fellow- 
citizens, and sacrifice his life, if need be, in the com- 
mon cause. He was appointed colonel : and, with a 
heroic and magnanimous spirit, engaged in the mili- 
tary operations of the day ; but to what extent is not 
known. In view of such perils and sufferings through- 
out the entire south, as he would necessarily be much 
from home, and his life would be all the time exposed 
to the most imminent dangers, he deemed it best to 
let his wife and children remain, for the present, 
with their friends in Rhode Island, and leave to 
Providence the ordering of their lot for the future. 

That he determined to risk his life in the military 
defence of the country, we are informed by a letter 
from Mrs. Balfour, dated June 1st, 1779, and written 
in answer to one from him. After noticing some 
other things in his letter, she says, *'I have been 
anxious about the enemy's being in Georgia ever 
since I heard they were there ; but your resolution 
of exposi7ig yourself raises a thousand melancholy 
thoughts. I can only say, I am unhappy and shall 
be so until I see you." From this I would infer that 
he went, or at least that he intended going with the 
unfortunate expedition to Georgia, under the command 
of General Ashe ; but of this we have no certain 
information. How he was employed, or what he 
accomplished, during this period, we have no means 
of knowing; for no letters could pass between him 
and his family in the north ; but he must have taken 
an active and prominent part in the cause ; for he 



318 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

had become very obnoxious to the Tories. In the 
fajl of 1780, he and Jacob Shephard, father of the 
Hon. Augustine II. Shephard, who was also a promi- 
nent Whig, were captured by a party of Tories, from 
the Pedee, under the command of Colonel Coulson, 
who were carrying them as prisoners to the British 
at Cheraw, but were attacked by Captain Childs, 
from Montgomery, who completely dispersed them, 
and set their prisoners at liberty to return home. 

On their return, Shephard left the neighborhood 
and went into one of more security, but Balfour re- 
mained and met an untimely fate. In the narrative 
of Judge Murphy, furnished for the University Maga- 
zine, by Governor Swain, we ^have the following ac- 
count of this most barbarous and disgraceful affair. 
" In one of his predatory and murderous excursions, 
he (Fanning) went to the house of Andrew Balfour, 
which he had plundered three years before. Stephen 
Cole, one of Balfour's neighbors, hearing of his 
approach and apprised of his intentions, rode at full 
speed to Balfour's house and gave him notice of the 
danger that threatened him. Balfour had scarcely 
stepped out of his house before he saw Fanning gallop- 
ing up. He ran, but one of Fanning's party, named 
Absalom Autry, fired at him with his rifle and broke 
his arm. He returned to the house and entered it, 
and his daughter and sister clung to him in despair. 
Fanning and his men immediately entered and tore 
away the women, threw them on the floor and held 
them under their feet till they shot Balfour. He fell 
on the floor, and Fanning taking a pistol, shot him 



COL. ANDREW BALFOUR. 319 

through the head." These are the most important 
facts in the case ; but we have the details more fully 
and minutely given in letters written soon after by 
his sister and others, who, being present at the time, 
and treated with most barbarous cruelty, felt what 
they wrote. 

As Col. Balfour was the most prominent and influ- 
ential man in that region. Fanning, in this murderous 
excursion up the river, made him the first victim, and 
accompanied the act with almost every degree of 
barbarity that was possible. It was on Sabbath 
morning, March 10th, 1782; when it might have 
been expected that the sacredness of the day would 
have had at least, some mitigating influence on the 
ferocity of these banditti ; but we will let Miss Mar- 
garet Balfour give the account of this transaction in 
her own language. It was some months, however, 
before her feelings were sufficiently composed and 
tranquil to write an account of a scene so distressing, 
and in the meantime, Mrs. Balfour, who, from all her 
letters, appears to have been a most afi'ectionate and 
devoted wife, had received intelligence of the fact by 
another hand. Mr. Marshall, of Salem, N. C, had 
communicated a notice of Colonel Balfour's death to 
his friend, the Rev. Mr. Russmeyer, in Newport, 
where she lived, and he had made it known to her. 
Owing to the difficulty of transmitting letters, this 
was a little over two months after the event ; and 
she immediately wrote to Miss Margaret for a par- 
ticular account of the whole afi'air. Her letter, from 



320 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

which the reader will, no doubt, be pleased to see a 
short extract, is dated 

JS'ewport, B, J., May 22d, 1782. 
"My DEAR Peggy: 

With the utmost grief and sorrow of heart, I sit 
down to write to you, having, eight days ago, heard 
the unhappy news of my dear husband's death. I had 
the day before, received two very affectionate letters 
from him, which raised my hope to a height to which 
I had long been a stranger. I had flattered myself 
that, with my dear little ones, I should, in a short 
time, be happy under the protection and guidance of 
the best of husbands and fathers. My fond imagina- 
tion had painted an addition of happiness in the society 
of an affectionate sister who, though personally un- 
known to me, I had ever thought upon with love and 
esteem, and of my dear Tibby, to whom I had con- 
sidered myself as under particular obligations of 
friendship ; but I was soon roused from these pleasing 
thoughts by the most distressing account of his being 
killed by a company of villains in his own house. 
My dear Peggy, it is not in the power of language to 
express what I feel on the present occasion, and I 
shall not attempt it. It is some consolation that 
there is a way open through which I may hope to 
hear from you, and I embrace this, the first opportu- 
nity of entreating you not to delay writing, and let 
me know every thing which you think can afford con- 
solation. I wish to know the particulars of your 
brother's death ; and, 0, I wish to know more than 



COL. ANDREW BALFOUR. 321 

it is possible for me to express in my present 
distress." 

In reply to this sorrowful request, Miss Margaret 
wrote a letter, of which we shall give the greater 
part, because it contains a fuller and more authentic 
account of Colonel Balfour's murder, and of the 
treatment which she and little Tibby received from 
these savages, than can be got elsewhere ; because it 
gives an affecting view of the disorder, recklessness 
and heart-rending distress which then prevailed in 
the country, for this was one of the almost numberless 
cases of a similar kind, and differing from it only a 
little in degree, and because the writer was not only 
an eye-witness, but a deep sufferer in the scenes 
which she describes. When we read such accounts, 
it seems difficult to say whether the men or the female 
portion of the community were the greatest sufferers ; 
for the revengeful and infuriated spirit, which reigns 
in a state of civil war, has very little respect for age 
or sex ; but it might not be amiss for the present and 
all coming generations, while living at their ease and 
enjoying all the luxuries which wealth and ingenuity 
can furnish, to remember the toils and privations, 
perils and sufferings, which were the price of our 
liberties and all our blessings. It is neither duty 
nor policy to forget the lessons of the past ; but we 
return to the letter ; it is dated 



322 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

Swearing Creek, SepL 24:th, 1782. 
My Dear Eliza, 

I have just now received your very kind but sor- 
rowful letter, dated May 22d; and it gives me a 
great deal of both pleasure and pain, I am ex- 
tremely happy to hear from you ; but as sorry, that 
it is on such a melancholy subject. You desire me 
to give you a particular account of your husband's 
death. My Dear Eliza, imposes on me a hard task ; 
for the very thought of it throws me into such nerv- 
ous fits, that it is with the greatest difficulty, I can 
hold the pen. Besides, I have not yet quit the bed 
of a long and dangerous fever, occasioned, I believe, 
by grief and vexation. However, to show that I 
really love you ; I will comply with your request, 
but in as few words as possible. On the 10th of 
March, about twenty-five armed Euffians came to 
the house with the intention to kill my brother. — 
Tibby and I endeavored to prevent them ; but it was 
all in vain. The wretches cut and bruised us both 
a great deal, and dragged us from the dear man 
then before our eyes. The worthless, base, horrible 
Fanning shot a bullet into his head, which soon put 
a period to the life of the best of men, and the most 
afi'ectionate and dutiful husband, father, son and 
brother. The sight was so shocking, that it is im- 
possible for tongue to express any thing like our 
feelings ; but the barbarians, not in the least touched 
with our anguish, drove us out of the house, and 
took every thing that they could carry off except the 
negroes who happened to be all from home at the 



COL. ANDREW BALFOUR. 823 

time. It being Sunday, never were creatures in 
more distress. We were left in a strange country, 
naked, without money, and, what was a thousand 
times worse, we had lost forever a near and dear 
relation. What added to our affliction, was the 
thought of his poor, helpless family left destitute, 
and it was not in our power to assist them. I wish 
his two families were united together. We would be a 
mutual help and comfort to each other; but whether 
it would be best that you should come to us, or 
that we should go to you, is out of my power to 
determine 'til I hear from you. Until then, I shall 
hire out my negroes, and go to Salisbury, where we 
intend to try the milliner's business. If there is 
good encouragement for that business with you, 
please let me know it, as soon as possible. If there 
is not, I beg you will come to us ; and while I have 
a sixpence, I will share it with you. We are at pre- 
sent about ten miles from Salisbury, at Mr. James 
McCay's, where we have made a crop of corn. We 
remained only a few days on our own plantation, after 
the dreadful disaster, having been informed that 
Fanning was coming to burn the house and take the 
negroes. I will write you soon again, and let you 
know how we succeed in business, and I pray you will 
write immediately. Let me know how you are and 
whether you will come out or not. If you will not 
come to us, I will endeavor to sell out and go to 
you ; for I cannot be happy, 'til I see my dear An- 
drew's beloved wife and little innocent children, of 
whom I have often heard him speak with a great deal 



824 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

of pleasure. I had a letter from my brother John's 
widow, who is at Charleston. It informs me of my 
father's death ; and that his will remains in the same 
way it was when I left home. As it will be of some 
advantage to us ; I propose going home as soon as 
circumstances will permit. Tibby joins me in love 
and compliments to you, and the dear little remains 
of our best friend. She will write you by the first 
opportunity, 

I am, my dear Eliza, with great sincerity your 
affectionate and loving, but distressed sister, 

Margaret Balfour. 

The following letter from Major Tatom to Go- 
vernor Burke, is both interesting and reliable ; it is 
appropriate in connexion with the above. It is copied 
from the communication of Governor Swain to the 
University Magazine, for March, 1853 ; and it con- 
firms, not only the main facts respecting the murder 
of Colonel Balfour, but what we have said about the 
general state of things in that part of the country, 
during the period in which the South was the theatre 
of war. Major Tatom, it appears, was a member of 
the House of Commons, from Hillsboro', about the 
year 1802 ; and, having died there, while a member, 
he was buried in the cemetery of the late Comptroller 
Goodwin, in the Baleigh grave yard. The letter is 
dated, 

Bilhloro\ Marcli 20th, 1782. 

Sir : — On Sunday the 11th inst.. Col. Balfour, of 
Randolph, was murdered in the most inhuman man- 



COL. ANDREW BALFOUR. 325 

ner, by Fanning and his party, also, a Captain Bry- 
ant and a Mr. King were murdered in the night of 
the same day, by them. Colonel Collier's and two 
other houses were burned by the same party. 

Col. Balfour's sister and daughter, and several other 
women, were wounded and abused in a barbarous 
manner. 

These, sir, are facts. I was at that time in Ran- 
dolph — saw the Tories and some of their cruelties. 
Without a speedy relief, the good people of that 
county must leave their habitations, and seek refuge 
in some other place. 

I am, sir, your o'bt serv't, 

A. Tatom. 

It is not strange that his friends, especially his 
widow and sister, should wish to have such a mon- 
ster as Fanning, and all his accomplices, brought 
to punishment ; and we give an extract from another 
letter of Miss Margaret, to her sister-in-law, as illus- 
trative of the feelings that existed, and of the course 
of conduct pursued at that period of civil conflict. 

In a letter to Mrs. Balfour, dated June 6th, 1783, 
a little more than a year after the death of her 
brother, she says : " Some time last February, hav- 
ing been informed that my horse was at one Major 
Gholson's, I got Mr. John McCoy with me, and we 
went to the Major's, where we found the horse, but 
in such a poor condition, that it was with great diffi- 
culty we got him home. However, he is now so 

much recruited, that he is fit for a little service. 

28 



826 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

When I was after the horse, I heard that one of 
Fanning's men was in Hillsboro' jail ; and, as the 
court commenced on the 1st of April, I went to Hills- 
boro', and witnessed against him. The crime was 
proved so plainly, that not one lawyer spoke a word 
in his favor, though he had three of them employed. 
My story was so affecting, that the court was willing 
to give me every satisfaction in their power ; and in 
order to do this, they broke a little through the 
usual course, for they had the villain tried, con- 
demned and hung, all in the space of the court. 
While the judge was giving the jury their charge, I 
heard several gentlemen of my brother's acquaintance 
wishing to God the jury would not bring him in 
guilty, that they might have the pleasure of putting 
the rascal to death with their own hands ; and if the 
jury had not brought him in guilty, I am sure they 
would have killed the wretch before he had got out 
of the house. If it is an inexpressible happiness for 
one to know, that his dear friends are much beloved, 
we have that happiness ; for I believe, that there has 
not a man fallen since the beginning of the troubles, 
who was more sincerely and generally lamented, 
than our dear Andrew. 

My brother gave the rights of the land that is in 
the neighborhood of Georgetown to Mr. Randolph 
Hays, a gentleman who lives in that town, to dispose 
of it ; but he could not do it at that time. According 
to the last accounts, my brother had of him, he was 
a prisoner in Charleston; but since my brother's 



COL, ANDREW BALFOUR. 327 

death, I have seen General Harrington, who tells me 
that Mr. Hays is now in Georgetown. 

Mj dear Eliza, I am infinitely obliged to you, and 
I sincerely thank you for your kind and friendly ad- 
vice. I shall use every method in my power to drive 
the horrid scene from my thoughts, as my life may 
be of some service, both to my dear Andrew's 
family, and to the avenging of his innocent blood. I 
have not had the pleasure of the letter you wrote in 
October. The distance between Salisbury and the 
plantation, is 42 miles, and 30 between Salisbury 
and Salem. 

I am, my dear Eliza, your sincere friend, and aflfec- 
tionate sister. 

Margaret Balfour. 

Miss Balfour, in the letter just quoted, does not 
give the name of the man against whom she witnessed ; 
but we have it in the following extract from the re- 
cords of the court at which she attended as a witness. 
We give the indictment as drawn up by Alfred Moore, 
the Attorney General ; and then the simple state- 
ment that a "true bill" was found. At the same 
court, some half a dozen others were tried and con- 
demned, some of them for " high treason" and others 
for horse stealing ; but to notice them here would be 
foreign from my purpose. 



328 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

ci^ X r AT ,1 n r ^ Superior Court of Law 
State 01 iNorth (Jarolma I 1 F 't A *1 

HiUsboro' District. j ^",^^''178^3. ^" 

The jurors for the State, upon their oath, present 
that David Fanning, late of the County of Chatham, 
yeoman, and Frederick Smith, late of the county of 
Cumberland, yeoman, not having the fear of God in 
their hearts, but being moved and seduced by the insti- 
gation of the devil, on the ninth day of March, in the 
year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and 
eighty-two, and in the sixth year of American Inde- 
pendence, with force and arms, in the county of Ran- 
dolph, in the District of Hillsboro', in and upon one 
Andrew Balfour, in the peace of God, and the said 
then and there being, feloniously, wilfully and of 
their malice aforethought, did make an assault, and 
that the said David Fanning, a certain pistol of the 
value of five shillings sterling, then and there charged 
with gunpowder and one leaden bullet, which pistol, 
he, the said David, in his right hand then and there 
had and held, to, against, and upon the said Andrew 
Balfour, then and there feloniously, wilfully, and of 
his malice aforethought, did shoot and discharge, and 
that the said David Fanning, with the leaden bullet 
aforesaid, out of the pistol aforesaid, then and there, 
by force of the gunpowder, shot and sent forth as 
aforesaid, the aforesaid Andrew Balfour, in and upon 
the head of him the said Andrew, then and there 
with the leaden bullet aforesaid, out of the pistol 
aforesaid, by the said David Fanning so as aforesaid 



COL. ANDREW BALFOUR. 329 

shot, discharged and sent forth, feloniously, wilfully, 
and of his malice aforethought, did strike, penetrate, 
and wound, giving to the said Andrew Balfour, then 
and there, with the leaden bullet aforesaid, so as 
aforesaid shot, discharged and sent forth out of the 
pistol aforesaid, by the said David, in and upon the 
head of him the said Andrew, one mortal wound of 
the depth of four inches and of the breadth of half 
an inch, of which said mortal wound, the aforesaid 
Andrew Balfour then and there instantly died ; and 
that the aforesaid Frederick Smith, then and there, 
feloniously, wilfully, and of his malice aforethought, 
was present, aiding, helping, abetting, comforting, 
assisting and maintaining the said David Fanning, 
the felony and murder aforesaid, in manner and form 
aforesaid, to do and commit, and so the jurors upon 
their oath aforesaid, do say, that the said David 
Fanning and Frederick Smith, the said Andrew Bal- 
four, then and there in manner and form aforesaid, fe- 
loniously, wilfully, and of their malice aforethought, 
did kill and murder against the peace and dignity of 
the said State. Alfred Moore, Att'y Gen'l. 

State 1 
vs. y Indictment Murder. 

Fred'k Smith. J 

Hillsboro' Sup'r Court, April Term, 1783. 

Margaret Balfour, ) witnesses 
Stephen Cole. / ^^itnesses. 

Sworn and sent. 

P. Henderson, Clerk. 
A True Bill. 

John Hogan, Foreman. 

28* 



330 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

As the letters of Miss Balfour, though written 
with great simplicity, and in the freedom and confi- 
dence of private correspondence, describe the deplo- 
rable state of things at that period more feelingly 
and more vividly than the present writer could pos- 
sibly do, the reader will no doubt be gratified to 
peruse another from the same hand. Mrs. Balfour 
had written her two letters, the first of which had 
not been received, and in the second which had come 
safe to hand, she had requested her sister-in-law to 
relate fully the circumstances of her husband's death. 
It appears that in writing this letter, instead of be- 
ginning with "My dear sister," as usual, she inad- 
vertently began with "My dear Madam," and this 
will explain an expression in the first of Miss Mar- 
garet's letter. The first part of it relates merely to 
private matters which are unimportant in themselves; 
but as they were the consequence of Col. Balfour's 
death, we give the letter entire. 

Salisbury^ iV. (7., August 11th, 1783. 

My dear, dear Sister : — Two days ago I re- 
ceived yours of Oct. 13th. By your changing the 
appellation at the top of your letter, I am afraid you 
imagine that I am indifi'erent about my dear brother's 
family ; but I assure you it is one of my greatest 
afflictions that I can do so little for them. I wish 
from my heart you could come home. We might, 
by our industry, make a decent and independent 
living. I have had the negroes hired out this sum- 
mer ; but as they sell very high at present, I have 



COL. ANDREW BALFOUR. 331 

some thoughts of selling them and going into trade, 
if you would come and assist us ; for I cannot think 
that I will ever be happy on the plantation where I 
have seen so much distress and misery. Besides, I 
shall take every opportunity to bring to justice all 
who had any hand in my brother's death. 

I do not think, therefore, that it would be safe for 
us to live among their friends, as it is very possible 
they would do us some private injury. That there 
was a time when my dear brother was happy in his 
family, I well know ; and it was his constant and 
ardent wish, as well as ours, to have his two families 
united. A great deal of pleasure we promised our- 
selves from this union ; but fortune was pleased to 
persecute him to the grave. 

My dear Eliza, I beg you will not insist on all the 
particulars of your husband's death, as every circum- 
stance strikes me like a clap of thunder. I held his 
dead head in my bosom till a moment before his 
death, when the ruffians dragged us from him ; and 
then — 0, Eliza ! I can write no more. I hope and 
pray that I may see you soon. Then, I will tell you 
all; for I do not think that it is so dreadful to 
repeat as to write, though the repetition of it in court 
shocked me so much that I was sick for three weeks. 
But whatever may be the consequences, I shall attend 
all courts, and every place where my presence is 
necessary, to bring the infernal villains to condign 
punishment. Dear sister, it grieves me to the heart 
that you should be dependent even on your father. 
It waa very far from my dear brother's endeavor. 



332 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

Pray, come to us ; and by the blessing of God and 
your assistance, we may make a comfortable living, 
and have it in our power to give the dear children a 
proper education. Tibby joins in kind compliments 
to you, to the children and to all friends. 

Adieu ! my dear Eliza. I remain you affection- 
ate, loving, perplexed sister, 

Margaret Balfour. 

Although the writer of the above letters has avoided 
any detail of circumstances, and has no doubt omitted 
the most cruel and revolting parts of the tragedy, 
nothing more need be said. The rest may be safely 
left to the imagination of the reader. We can hardly 
conceive a more heart-rending scene than that which 
was exhibited in the house of Col. Balfour on the 
day of his murder ; yet it was only one of scores 
hardly less bloody and atrocious, and often the sur- 
viving sufferers had not the means of temporal sup- 
port and comfort afterwards even, which Col. Bal- 
four's family had. We feel indignant that acts of such 
savage barbarity should be committed in a civilized 
and Protestant country ; and not only that, but com- 
mitted so often by the same hands. We seem to be 
carried back to the days and the countries of Turkish 
or Popish ferocity , and we can hardly believe that 
men raised in such a country as ours, so blessed, 
even at that day, with civilization, intelligence and 
Christian influence, could deliberately murder a lone 
man, in his own house and in the presence of his 
family ; that they could rudely tear away two help- 



COL. ANDREW BALFOUR. 833 

less females, a sister and a little daughter only ten 
years of age, from the embrace of a murdered and 
expiring father and brother, and that they could 
drive them from the house in the night and in the 
cold, blustering winds of March, without sufficient 
clothing, without a protector, and without the means 
of subsistence. Then, where was the boasted human- 
ity and generosity of the British nation, when a Bri- 
tish Colonel, holding his commission under the Bri- 
tish government, and acting under the eye of his 
superiors in office, who must have been aware of his 
conduct, was permitted to commit such atrocities to 
the full extent of his power, and knowing that their 
connivance^ if there was nothing more, encouraged 
him in this course of savage barbarity ? A distin- 
guished poet said of Lord Bacon, that he was " the 
wisest, greatest, meanest of mankind ;" and the lan- 
guage might, at any time, be applied, with very 
little qualification, to the British government. In 
every war we have had with them, they employed 
blood-thirsty savages to murder, at discretion, help- 
less females and children, stimulating them by the 
most tempting bribes to the full exertion of their 
powers ; and they not only bribed Fanning by a 
commission, but, by their connivance, if not by their 
plaudits, encouraged him and his lawless bandits in 
their course of savage cruelty. 

In the above accounts of Colonel Balfour^s murder, 
Mr. Tatom says that there were several females and 
that they were all treated with great rudeness. Miss 
Margaret makes no mention of any except herself 



334 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

and little Tibby ; but wc must recollect that he wrote 
from report while she was present — an eye witness 
of the scene and a deep sufferer. In Judge 
Murphey's narrative already quoted, it is stated that 
he attempted to escape ; but that one of Fanning's 
men shot at him with his rifle and broke his arm, 
when he returned to the house and submitted to his 
fate. A number of years ago I was told that he 
could have escaped, but that he heroically determined 
to stay by his sister and daughter, who had no other 
protector, rather than save his own life by flight and 
leave them to the barborous treatment of his enemies. 
There is, however, a tradition in the family, which 
seems to be reliable and which is confirmed by the 
concurrent traditions of the neighborhood, that he 
had, only a short time before, returned home very 
sick, from some tour of military service and that, 
although he was convalescing and had so far recov- 
ered that he could be up a little and about in the 
house, he was unable either to fight or fly. The 
current tradition of the country a number of years 
ago, was that he was confined to bed at the time and 
was murdered in his bed ; but I believe the other 
to be the most reliable. Miss Margaret makes no 
mention either of his sickness or^of his having it in his 
power to escape, but as she relates, in the intensity 
of her grief, only the fact of his murder, without 
going into a minute detail of circumstances, her 
silence in relation to this matter cannot be regarded 
as disproving the family ti-adition ; and both may 
be true. Having been suddenly attacked, and on the 



COL. ANDREW BALFOUR. 335 

Sabbath, when not expecting such a thing, even if 
he had so far recovered that he could get out of the 
way, he may have resolved to stand by his sister and 
little daughter at all hazards ; thinking perhaps that 
they were not such merciless savages as to murder a 
sick man, on the day of sacred rest and in the 
presence of those whose delicacy and dependence, 
and especially whose entreaties and distresses, even 
savages often respect. It was natural for him to 
suppose that men, who had been born and raised 
under the influence of civilization and Christianity, 
would so far regard the presence and the entreaties 
of a sister and a daughter, who had no other friend 
and no other protector within hundreds of miles, as 
to spare his life, though they might have taken him 
prisoner ; but in this, to the shame and the grief of 
humanity, he was mistaken. 

There was not an instance during the war, and 
hardly one in the history of modern warfare, of more 
savage and shocking barbarity. We feel indignant 
at the fate of Colonel Hayue; but if there was as 
much injustice, there was certainly not as much cold- 
blooded cruelty in his case as in that of Colonel Bal- 
four. They were both American officers and of the 
same rank. They were both put to death, too, by 
British officers; but in the case of Colonel Hayue 
there was a semblance of a trial. A pretext was 
alleged, false and futile as it was ; he had some time 
allowed to prepare for an exchange of worlds ; his 
family had abundantly the means of support and they 
were in the midst of sympathising friends; he was 



336 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

not butchered in their presence, nor were they 
treated with scorn and barbarity ; but it was not so 
with Colonel Balfour. He was put to death as soon 
as found, on the Sabbath day, and in his own house. 
The officer, on whom his life or death depended, be- 
came the executioner and shot him with his own 
hand. His sister and daughter, the only relatives 
he had in the country, who ought to have been 
allowed at least the melancholy privilege of closing 
his eyes in death, and of performing the last sad 
offices of friendship, were rudely torn from his dying 
embrace, then beaten, trampled on, hacked with their 
swords and driven from the house, pennyless and 
friendless, strangers in a strange land, without com- 
fortable clothing and without the means of subsist- 
ence, except as they could get it in charity from 
those who were little better off than themselves; for 
the miscreants plundered the house of all the money, 
provisions and everything else they could carry 
away. 

But a kind Providence was their protector, and 
they lived many years, not only to enjoy the bless- 
ings of a free country, and to be, in some measure, 
compensated for their sufferings, but to contribute 
their full share to the prosperity and social enjoyment 
of the community in which they lived. The letters 
of Miss Margaret, already quoted, tell us what course 
they took and where they fixed their residence. 
Other letters give us their history for fifteen or 
twenty years, and that brings us within the reach of 
living testimony. The descendants of Colonel Bal- 



COL. ANDREW BALFOUR. 337 

four, many of whom are still living in the country, 
and wlio are among our most useful and estimable 
citizens, are a standing proof that man cannot curse 
whom God has blessed, and that man cannot destroy 
"whom God designs to protect. 

The reader will be pleased, we have no doubt, to 
see a letter from this little girl, Tibby, Colonel Bal- 
four's only child by his first wife, who was so rudely 
treated by the murderers of her father, and turned 
out to perish amidst the desolation which they had 
made, a stranger among strangers, fatherless, moth- 
erless, and without a friend within several hundred 
miles, except a maiden aunt, who, it seems, had been 
treated with even greater barbarity, and who imme- 
diately had a severe attack of nervous fever, occa- 
sioned by the treatment which she received, and the 
horrid murder of the best and only friend she had in 
the country. We give the letter, not because it con- 
tains any additional information respecting her 
father's death, but because it is a good index to her 
character. There appears to be something womanly 
in it, when we consider that she was now only about 
eleven years of age, and that her opportunities for 
improvement had been very small. Before the war, 
she was too young to have made much progress in 
learning, and during the war, especially the latter 
part of it, and in North Carolina, amidst all the perils 
and desolations of civil war, going to school was out 
of the question. It was addressed to her step-mother, 
in Newport, R. I., who had, a short time before, 

29 



338 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

written to her for the first time, and this is her 
answer. It is dated 



Salisbury, JSf. (7., June 6tJi, 1783. 
" My dear Mother : 

It gives me a great deal of pleasure to learn that 
you intend coming to Carolina, as I hope I shall be 
able to show myself worthy of your regard, of which 
I have been convinced ever since I heard my dear 
father speaking of you. 

" We have not had a letter from Mrs. Balfour, 
(widow of John Balfour, who had lately died at Che- 
raw) since about a week before the evacuation of 
Charleston. She was there then and mentioned her 
coming up to her plantation at the Cheraw, but as 
we have heard nothing of her since, we suppose she 
has gone home. Uncle died of a lingering disorder 
of three months, and left three children, Nancy, 
Peggy and Andrew. Their youngest daughter, 
Mannie, died some time before her father. 

" As my aunt is writing now, I refer you to her 
letter for further particulars. Give my best love to 
my dear brother and sister ; and believe me to be, 
my dear mother, most affectionately 
Yours, 

TiBBY Balfour." 

Our readers would, no doubt, be willing to know 
what became of Col. Balfour's widow and children, 
especially of that little Tibby ; for every one must 
feel a deep interest in learning something about her 



COL. ANDREW BALFOUR. 839 

subsequent history. Slie and her aunt Margaret, 
went to reside in Salisbury, where, with some indus- 
try and economy, they lived comfortably on the rent 
of the land and the hire of the negroes. Towards the 
close of the year following the date of Tibby's letter 
to her, Mrs. Balfour, with her two little children, 
came by water to Wilmington and thence to Salis- 
bury, where Margaret and Tibby had already made 
many warm friends. As General Greene was leav- 
ing Khode Island about the same time, for Charleston, 
he proffered to take her under his protection, provided 
she would go in the same vessel ; but as that would 
be more expensive, and require her to be longer on 
the water, she preferred coming, in another vessel, 
directly to Wilmington. He gave her a letter of 
recommendation, which secured for her a most respect- 
ful attention from the Captain and all on board. In 
Fayetteville and all along the route, she appears to 
have received every mark of civility and cordial greet- 
ing that she could ask, at least from the Whig portion 
of the community. It was only a few miles out of 
her way, and she made a pilgrimage to the grave of 
her murdered husband ; but the scene was too excit- 
ing, and she lingered only a short time around the 
tomb of her buried hopes and affections. Having 
arrived on the east bank of the Yadkin in the evening, 
when it was too late to cross, especially as the stream 
was swollen, the news got to Salisbury before her ; 
and next morning, George Lucas sent his carriage to 
the river for her, and brought her into town just in 
good time to eat a Christmas dinner with him, Decern- 



340 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

ber 25th, 1784. She appears to have been most cor- 
dially welcomed by the good people of that place ; 
and every thing was done that could be done to make 
her comfortable. In a few years, an arrangement 
was made for her to keep the Post Office, and the 
profits of that yielded her a comfortable support. 
This was obtained either by a petition of the citizens, 
or, more likely, through the influence of General 
Steele, who, at that time, had some office under 
Washington's administration. The office went in the 
name of her son Andrew ; but he held it for her bene- 
fit. She transacted all the business and received all 
the profits. She kept it until 1825, or thereabouts, 
which was some twenty-five or thirty years ; and, 
from first to last, gave entire satisfaction to all con- 
cerned, making her quarterly returns very punctu- 
ally and with great correctness. In proof of this, 
the following little incident will be sufficient. On 
making her quarterly or annual report, after she had 
been many years in the office, the Postmaster Gene- 
ral wrote back to her that he had at length detected, 
in her account, a mistake of half a cent. 

About the year 1790, Tibby Balfour married John 
Troy, a native citizen of Salisbury, and had by him 
three children — John Balfour Troy, now of Randolph 
county, and two daughters, Margaret and Rachel. 
Margaret died at the Flat Swamp Springs, in what is 
now Davidson county, in 1813. Rachel married 
Lewis Beard of Lexington, and is yet living in the 
State of Mississippi. Margaret Balfour, the sister 
of Colonel Balfour, who was so cruelly beaten and 



COL. ANDREW BALFOUR. 341 

trampled on by Fanning and his crew, remained in 
this country, and during the latter years of her life, 
resided on the old plantation in Randolph county, 
■with Lewis Beard, who married Tibby's youngest 
daughter, Rachel Troy. There she died, in 1818, 
and was laid in the same burying ground, beside, or 
near to her brother. After she lost her husband, 
Tibby went to live with her son, John B. Troy, Esq., 
who is well known in Randolph and in all the ad- 
joining counties, as one of our most upright and use- 
ful citizens. There she enjoyed, during the remain- 
der of life, all the comforts and kind attentions which 
filial piety could bestow. Many years before her 
death, she made a profession of religion, and con- 
nected herself with the Methodist church. The wri- 
ter saw her at the house of her son, not long before 
her death ; and although she looked like a woman 
over whom the waves of affliction and sorrow had 
passed, she had in her countenance and demeanor, all 
the calm serenity of a meek and submissive Christian. 
She continued to adorn her profession, and to enjoy 
the confidence of all around her, until she was about 
sixty-five years of age, when she took a dimission 
from the church on earth, to join the church in 
heaven. She died on February 22d, 1837, as she 
had lived, in the peaceful hopes of the gospel, and 
sincerely lamented by a large circle of friends and 
acquaintances. 

Colonel Balfour's son, Andrew, married Miss Mary 
Henly, daughter of John Henly, who was a member 

of the Quaker society ; and by her he had nine chil- 

29* 



342 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

dren — five sons and four daughters, all of whom re- 
moved to the West, except Mrs. Eliza Drake, wife of 
Colonel Drake, now living in Ashboro'. He lived on 
the old plantation, on Betty McGee's creek, where 
he died in 1828, and was laid in the same burying 
ground with his murdered father. Respecting the 
character and standing of those who have gone to 
the West, nothing is known to the w^riter, nor is it 
known whether they are all yet living ; but it may be 
presumed that the same kind Providence which has 
done so much for the rest, in this country, will also 
have them under the wing of his kind protection. 

The third, and only remaining child of Colonel Bal- 
four, his daughter Margaret, and the only daughter 
he had by his second wife, married Hudson Hughs, 
of Salisbury, and had two daughters, — Mary, who 
married Samuel Beeves, of Salisbury; and Eliza, who 
died when young. This daughter also, now the 
widow Margaret, having lost her husband, by a mys- 
terious Providence, was led to spend her last days on 
the old place, where she died and was laid in the com- 
mon burial ground. All the family that have yet 
died, so far as known, have been buried at the old 
homestead, except Tibby, Mrs. Troy, and 'Squire Troy 
now says, he has often regretted since, that he did 
not take his good old mother there, and lay her with 
the rest. Some of them, after removing to the West, 
came back on business, or on a visit to their friends, 
but by the ordering of an all-wise Providence, died 
before they could get away, and were buried in the 
same cemetery; and even some who were grafted 



COL. ANDREW BALFOUR. 343 

into the family by marriage, though with other 
thoughts and other places in view, have been made, 
by a strange over-ruling of circumstances, to end 
their days at the old mansion, and are now taking 
their long sleep in the common resting place. 

There they are all lying in their lowly beds, around 
their common ancestor, the patriotic, the heroic, the 
generous hearted, but unfortunate Colonel Andrew 
Balfour. What a place for serious reflection and for 
the undisturbed indulgence of all the pensive and 
sacred emotions of filial veneration and affection! 
There are more tender and hallowed associations con- 
nected with that little spot on Betty McGee's creek, 
than with almost any other spot in the whole country. 
If there is a place in this wide world which seems 
more sacred and more impressive than all others, it is 
the final resting place of departed friends, especially 
when their death had any thing of the martyr charac- 
ter about it, or was attended with circumstances of 
peculiar solemnity; and the descendants of Colonel 
Balfour, for generations to come, may not only desire 
to find their last repose in the same family group, 
but may love to show their regard for his memory, 
and to re-invigorate their own sentiments of filial 
veneration for his name, by visiting the spot where he 
fell a sacrifice in the cause of freedom, and where his 
last remains are quietly waiting the sound of Gabriel's 
trump. 



344 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 



MAJOR ELROD. 



Courage and generosity, we believe, are natural 
and not acquired. By proper culture, they may be 
refined, expanded and rendered more uniform and 
salutary in their operation ; but the elements must 
be there as a natural endowment, or there will be 
nothing to cultivate. There must be an original 
congeniality for great principles which, in proportion 
as they are purified and elevated by a Christian in- 
fluence, will supplant the low spirit of avarice or re- 
venge by loftier motives and raise their possessor above 
the contracted interests of party or the mere pur- 
poses of self-aggrandizement. 

Even when the advantages of literary and reli- 
gious cultivation have been withheld, the instinctive 
impulses of a noble nature, however much they may 
have been under a perverting and deteriorating in- 
fluence, will occasionally expand over all adverse cir- 
cumstances, and prompt to some act of generosity, 
which is at once surprising and delightful ; but, then, 
being more under the control of circumstances, than 
of settled principles, they will be irregular in their 
promptings, and the acts thus performed, will be 
marred by gross inconsistencies. A man who has no 
strong and permanent emotions of a generous kind 
stirring within him, as the gift of nature, is utterly 
incapable of anything noble or praiseworthy ; and, in 
such a time as the revolutionary war, or, at any time 
when the circumstances in which he is placed tend 



MAJOR ELROD. 345 

to develope liis real character, his course will be 
marked sometimes bj cruelty, and sometimes by 
cowardice. 

In the forks of the Yadkin, were two men on the 
Tory side. Major Elrod, whom, if I am not mistaken, 
I once heard called John Elrod, but am not certain, 
and Samuel Still, who furnished a good illustration 
of the above remarks. We have thus given their 
characters in advance, partly, because it is the most 
we know of them, and partly, because it will give us 
a better understanding of the few facts that have 
come to our knowledge. We have introduced them 
together, because, though of opposite character or 
disposition, they were always together, and both met 
their fate at the same time. Elrod, appears to have 
been a man of true courage, and would sometimes do 
a generous act ; but the other was a stranger to all 
those principles, from which anything noble or 
praiseworthy could proceed. Under any circum- 
stances, even when facing death in some of its most 
appalling forms, Elrod was as brave as Caesar ; but 
Still was brave only when "the king of terrors" 
seemed to be at a distance ; and when any of his 
enemies fell into his hands, he could neither appre- 
ciate heroic worth, nor commisserate those, who like 
himself, shrunk from the thought of an immediate 
approach into the world of spirits. 

Elrod, with whom we are now principally concern- 
ed, lived in the Forks of the Yadkin, where Colonel 
Bryant had control; and, as he carried on his ope- 
rations mostly in that region, up and down the river. 



34G REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

we know very little about him. He was a young 
man, and lived in a small log house, with his mother. 
With a few men who rallied round him at his call, 
he was very enterprising and efficient in the service 
of the King. He was not properly a marauder, or 
mere freebooter, for he had a nature which, if cir- 
cumstances had permitted, would have raised him 
above such a course. It does not appear that he 
ever came on a predatory excursion, or brought his 
men with him over the dividing ridge, between the 
waters of the Yadkin and those of Deep Eiver ; but 
when he came over, he had only a very few men with 
him, and was on his way to Wilmington, or on his 
return. He was not attached to Tanning's corps, 
nor subject to his authority. He very seldom co- 
operated with Colonel Fanning ; but seems to have 
confined himself to a different range of operations. 
He was with him at the battle of McFall's mills, but, 
so far as I have learned, that was the only instance ; 
and what part he took there is not known. There 
was a good understanding, with occasional co-opera- 
tion or intercourse, and that was about all. 

With respect to his rank or standing as an officer, 
but little is known to the writer. According to my 
information, which is altogether of a traditionary 
kind, and in regard to this matter, rather vague and 
uncertain, he was called Captain Elrod until the 
summer of 1781, when he got the rank or title of 
Major ; but whether from British authority, or the 
Tory militia, does not appear. Isaac Farlow, who 
has a distinct recollection of what transpired in those 



MAJOR ELROD. 847 

times, so far as tliey came within his knowledge, in 
the communication now before me, simply says, that 
" he held a commission," by which I presume, he 
meant a commission from British authority ; and as 
he went more than once during that year to Wil- 
mington, it is natural to infer that he received the 
commission from Major Craig. When going to 
Wilmington and returning, he seems to have passed 
through the Tory region, accompanied with some two 
or three men, and spending a little time with Fan- 
ning by the way ; but committing no murders or de- 
predations on the Whigs, until the beginning of the 
next year, when on his return through the Whig 
settlement on Deep river, he killed one man, and 
wounded another, which caused him to be pursued 
and put to death. This aifair, however, was con- 
nected with so many others, that it will be necessary 
to go back, and take a little license in the detail of 
facts, some of which are new and worth relating. 

It was stated under another head, as the reader 
will recollect, that, on the day after the battle at 
McFall's mill, when he was returning to his head- 
quarters in Moore county, one of his scouting par- 
ties captured Col. Thomas Dugan, and carried him to 
Fanning, who almost instantly pronounced the sen- 
tence of death, and he was about to be executed ; 
but some of Fanning's men being his intimate ac- 
quaintances, and personal friends, wished to save him. 
One man particularly, whether Elrod or some other, 
I have not learned, interested himself so warmly that 
he got a decided majority opposed to his execution, 



348 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

and Fanning was compelled, much against his will, 
to revoke the sentence. Dugan was permitted to live, 
but was sent a prisoner to Major Craig at Wilming- 
ton, where he lay a long time, and, like most other 
prisoners, suffered hardships which none but a very 
sound constitution could bear. After being confined 
for several weeks, either in the town or some build- 
ing used for th? purpose, he was put on board a 
prison-ship and confined there, for two or three 
months, amidst all the filth and vermin, and pestilen- 
tial air with which all such ships then abounded. 

Although he was now two hundred, or near two 
hundred miles from home, his mother, Mary Dugan, 
went all the way to see him, accompanied by, or 
rather "under the protection" of Mrs. Bell, a 
woman who went just where she pleased, regardless 
of all danger, and who commanded respect wherever 
she went ; but when they got there, the commanding 
officer. Major Craig, or some other, most inhumanly 
refused Mrs. Dugan permission to see her son, and 
she was obliged to return with a sad and troubled 
heart. " A long time after this," my informant 
says, " Col. Dugan was sentenced to be hung on the 
yard-arm, or some fixture of the prison-ship, and the 
time appointed for the execution had arrived. The 
preparations were all made — the rope round his neck 
and the cap drawn over his face, ready to be swung 
off, when Major Elrod, Samuel Still, and Michael 
Robins, who were down there at the time, came on 
board. Whether they had come casually, or having 
heard of what was about to take place, had come for 



MAJOR ELROD. 349 

the purpose of trying to do him a favor, is not known ; 
but Eh'od interceded so effectually on his behalf, that 
he obtained his release, and permission for him to 
return home. By this time he had become, from long 
confinement and the impure air of the prison-ship, so 
feeble, emaciated and sickly in his appearance that, he 
may have excited their compassion, or probably they 
thought that it was not worth while to hang him, for 
he would soon die without hanging. 

With some assistance, however, he got home, and 
lived many years. Shortly after his return, Isaac 
Farlow saw him at BelPs mill, walking the mill-yard, 
moaning and sighing, apparently in much trouble of 
mind, and so emaciated that his clothes were all 
hanging loosely about him ; or, to use Farlow's ex- 
pression, " he wore shorts, and his legs did not near 
fill his long hose." He lived within a short distance, 
and had probably rode over there for the exercise. 
We will now leave him there for the present, and 
bring into notice two or three other incidents. 

In the latter part of February, 1781, Col. William 
Fields, with the men under his command, having 
captured Henry Johnson, Joseph Johnson, and several 
other Whigs, had them with him as prisoners, on his 
way to the head-quarters of Colonel Pyle, on Cane 
creek, where he intended to join Colonel Pyle, and go 
with him to the British army, in Hillsboro', but be- 
fore he reached the place of rendezvous he heard of 
"Pyle's hacking match " at Holt's, where Col. Lee 
made such havoc of his little Tory army ; and then 

he let his prisoners go on parole. Through the sum- 

80 



350 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

mer and fall, as it appears, they all stayed at home, 
and manifested no disposition whatever to violate the 
conditions of their parole. About the last of Febru- 
ary, or the first of March, 1782, Henry Johnson 
went over to a neighboring house to get his shoes 
mended, and was returning. As no man in those 
times, whether at home or abroad, felt safe a minute 
without his gun, he had carried his rifle, either for 
the purpose of killing squirrels or of self-defence, if 
it should be necessary. On his way home, one of his 
neighbors, by the name of Robert Tucker, fell in 
with him, and the two went along together at their 
leisure, and without apprehension. Elrod, Still and 
Robbins remained a short time at Wilmington after 
Col. Dugan left, and then set off on their return 
home. Taking it leisurely, and probably making a 
call on Col. Fanning, by the way, as he passed through 
Johnson's neighborhood he accidently met with him 
and Tucker. Elrod knowing that Johnson was on 
parole, told him that he would chastise him for 
carrying a gun, and immediately struck him on the 
head with his new sword, which had probably been 
given him shortly before, by Major Craig, at Wil- 
mington, and broke it into two pieces. Then, with the 
stump or butt end, which he held in his hand, he 
knocked him down, and Still instantly shot a rifle 
ball into his head. They were going to shoot 
Tucker also, but he seized the gun; and either 
wrested it temporally out of the man's hand, or 
turned it up so that the ball, when the gun fired, 
passed over his head, and then ran. One of the 



MAJOR ELROD. 351 

men shot at him, however, as he ran, with a gun or 
pistol, and broke his arm; but he went on to the 
nearest Whig house, and gave the alarm. 

This happened near Osborne's place, where Colo- 
nel Hogan since lived. After going a little distance 
thej left the road and halted for the purpose of eat- 
ing a snack and taking a dram. While thus engaged, 
they fancied that they heard the sound of horses' feet 
passing along the road, and returned to ascertain, if 
they could, who had passed, or whence the sound 
had proceeded. They found a number of fresh 
tracks, which one of them suggested might have been 
made by the horses of the Quakers going to meeting, 
but the rest thought they must be the tracks of the 
light horse. As Johnson was an active Whig and 
highly esteemed in the neighborhood, they were well 
aware that as soon as his death became known, they 
would be pursued, and they were easily alarmed. 
Robins is said to have been a man of daring charac- 
ter ; but he was sagacious enough to know what must 
soon be the consequence, and, like most other men, 
he regarded self-preservation as the first law of 
nature. After shirking about for a few days, or a 
very short time, he "cut out" with his family, went 
to the frontiers of Georgia, and never returned. 
Elrod and Still immediately pursued their way to 
the forks of the Yadkin, where they appear to have 
thought themselves secure, and felt no apprehension 
that the Whigs of Johnson's neighborhood would 
leave their houses exposed and pursue them so far 
into that Tory region where the influence of Colonel 



352 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

Bryant was then predominant ; but they were mis- 
taken. 

The alarm having been given in the neighborhood, 
a troop of mounted men was quickly paraded and 
ready for marching orders, consisting of Colonel 
Dugan, Captain William Clarke, Jacky Yeach, Bar- 
tholomew Grogan, and many others. Calling at the 
house of Colonel Williams, where Nicholas Williams 
now lives, on the Yadkin, they got him to go with 
them to the house of Mrs. Elrod, and arrived there 
in the night. Colonel Williams, though a resolute 
man himself, viewed the enterprise as so perilous 
that he hesitated for some time before he would con- 
sent to go along as a pilot ; but it was in the night, 
and the road was difficult to find ; it was an important 
matter to have these men killed or taken, and having 
full confidence in the well known courage and sagacity 
of the Whig party now in pursuit, he finally con- 
sented. On approaching the house, they called a 
halt, and held a brief consultation to determine on 
the course of procedure, and to have everything dis- 
tinctly understood. Well aware of Elrod's resolute 
character, and not knowing how many men he might 
have in the house, they thought it best to be cau- 
tious ; and the first move was to send Captain Clarke 
to the house, for the purpose of making what disco- 
veries he could. At the back of the house, he found 
a high stump, on which he mounted, and looked 
through the cracks. A wood fire was still burning 
in the chimney, and threw a dim, flickering light over 
the house. He saw two men together in a bed, and one 



MAJOR ELROD. 353 

lying on the hearth before the fire. They appeared 
to be all in a sound sleep, and their guns were 
stacked in the corner. Having got all the informa- 
tion necessary, he returned to the company, and 
made his report. Several suggestions were made, 
and at first they could not agree ; but, they soon as- 
sented unanimously to the proposal of Captain 
Clarke, which was, that two of them, should go with 
all 'their force against the door and burst it open, 
then rush in and seize the men before they could get 
their guns. 

Almost as a matter of course, considering his 
muscular strength, and his dauntless courage, Clarke 
was the first one nominated for this purpose, and 
Jack Veach volunteered to go with him, but on ap- 
proaching the door, Veach drew back, and refused to 
go any further. They returned then to the com- 
pany a few rods off, and Grogan volunteered to take 
Veach's place ; but on approaching the door again, 
he suddenly stopped and retreated. Clarke, then 
seizmg a fence rail, and telling the rest to come 
along, ran up and drove it against the door with so 
much force, that he stove the door ofi" the hinges, and 
threw it half way across the house, then bounding in 
with great rapidity, he seized one of the men in bed, 
rushed him to the fire, and holding his face to the 
light, said, "I have got hold of Mr. Still;" but the 
other denied, and said it was not Still. Clarke 
then, still holding him by the throat, jolted or 
bumped his head two or three times against the side 

of the fire-place, when the other told Clarke not to 
30* 



354 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

abuse him ; and Clarke replied that he would not, if 
he would tell him no lies — Still, no longer denied his 
name, and could not do it, for Clarke knew him as 
soon as he brought him to the light. 

In the mean time, the rest of the men had fol- 
lowed close upon Clarke's heels, one of whom had 
seized the other man in bed, who proved to be Elrod ; 
and another had seized the one who was lying on 
the hearth, so that they had them all secure, and at 
the light, where they could recognize them. Clarke 
now said to Still, " You had fine fun the other day 
in killing Henry Johnson ;" but Still replied in a 
timid way, "that Johnson was dead, when he shot 
him," thus admitting that he did kill him, for he 
would be a savage to shoot a man whom he knew to 
be dead ; but Elrod then spoke, and said, " Come, 
Still, don't go to death with a lie in your mouth." 
Having secured their prisoners, they held a kind of 
court martial or consultation, for the purpose of 
determining what disposition should be made of 
them, and it was decided, that as they had shot John- 
son, they should be shot next morning. When morn- 
ing came, they took them away about half a mile 
from the house, where they tied them to trees, and 
shot them. Still, showed that he had no true 
courage — turned and twisted in every way, tried his 
best to get the tree between him and the guns, and 
could not be kept quiet; but Elrod was calm, and 
without uttering a word or moving a muscle, submit- 
ted to his fate, leaving some messages for his friends, 
and distributing some of his clothes. Elrod was 



MAJOR ELROD. 355 

shot under the arm, and the ball probably penetrated 
his heart, for Isaac Farlow says, *' he saw William 
Darnell shortly after, wearing Elrod's waistcoat, with 
a patch over the bullet hole." Having accomplished 
their purpose, the company, according to the heart- 
less custom of the times, left these men just in the 
position in which they were when shot, and returned 
home. 

In this case, Colonel Dugan, who was both honor- 
able in his principles, and humane in his feelings, 
was placed in a trying position, and he felt it very 
sensibly. The reader will recollect, that only a few 
weeks before, Elrod had saved him from the gallows, 
when the rope was about his neck, and the cap drawn 
over his face, at Wilmington; and would he not now 
be grateful and generous enough to save the life of 
his benefactor ? — There are two accounts of this mat- 
ter, which, at first, appear quite contradictory, but 
may be easily reconciled. According to one of these, 
which, is that of Isaac Farlow, after the men had 
been seized in the house, and before any consultation 
had been held on their case, Elrod and Dugan retired 
to the bed, and then, sitting together on the side of 
it, talked for some time. Elrod urged upon Dugan, 
to recollect how he had saved him from being hung 
on board the prison-ship, and claiming, as a matter 
of honor and generosity, that Dugan would now do 
as much for him; Dugan replied that, for any thing 
he had ever done to him, he could freely forgive 
him ; but for having killed Henry Johnson, he must 
die. According to the other account, which I had 



356 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENT?. 

from Doct. Wood, of Cedar Falls, who is better ac- 
quainted with the revolutionary incidents of that 
region, than almost any other man ; Dugan did his 
best to save Elrod's life, from a grateful sense of 
obligation, and had his feelings much mortified be- 
cause he could not succeed. 

From Dugan's character, we have no doubt that 
his feelings would have prompted him to spare 
Elrod's life, and had it depended on him alone, we 
think it probable, that he would not have put him to 
death," but, as the commanding officer of the com- 
pany, he must sustain the decision. In the court or 
consultation which they held, he may have done all 
he could to save his benefactor ; but the men and the 
officers, if any were present, would never agree that 
those who had killed Henry Johnson, and had done 
it so wantonly, should be permitted to live; and 
Dugan, when addressing Elrod or conferring with 
him, was obliged to maintain his position, and speak 
as the organ of others. On this supposition, which 
is a very natural one, and almost the only one 
that could be made, the two accounts are consistent, 
and Dugan is free from any imputation of ingrati- 
tude or want of generosity. My informants proba- 
bly got their information from different sources, and 
even if they both got it from men who went on the 
expedition, as we have no doubt that Farlow got his 
from Captain Clarke, himself, who was one of his 
near neighbors, they might have received accounts a 
little different, as those who were present, would 



MAJOR ELROD. 357 

relate what they saw and heard, according to their 
own feelings, or impressions at the time. 

The above transaction took place in March, 1782, 
and probably during the time that Fanning was 
making his terrible irruption into the Whig settle- 
ment up Deep river, in which Colonel Dugan lived. 
As Panning was only some twenty-five or thirty 
miles below Bell's Mills, and was remarkable for the 
quickness and accuracy, with which he got informa- 
tion from all directions, he must have been informed 
very quickly, that Elrod had killed Johnson, and 
that the Whigs of his neighborhood had gone in pur- 
suit. This afi'orded a fine opportunity for him to 
make an excursion into that region, and he resolved 
not to let it pass. Moreover, he knew very well, that 
if they got Elrod in their power, they would put 
him to death, and that with such men as Colonel 
Dugan and Captain Clarke at their head, they would 
be almost sure to succeed. His ambition and re- 
venge, had already been roused to a high pitch of 
excitement, by the execution of several of his men at 
Eillsboro', and the anticipated execution of Elrod, 
now nerved him to deeds of the most reckless 
daring. He and his banditti, swept through the 
settlement, like a troop of Saracens, with fire and 
sword, killing every Whig that they could find, burn- 
ing the houses, and destroying the property of such 
as they could not kill, and leaving behind them a 
scene of unparalleled desolation and distress. If 
Dugan and his men had been at home, Fanning 
would not have ventured into their bounds, or, if he 



358 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

had been so fool-hardy, they would very quickly 
have raised men enough to arrest his progress, and 
make him repent his rashness. As it was, John 
Clarke, raised a few men as quickly as possible, and 
went in pursuit. Captain John Gillespie, of Guil- 
ford county, having probably been notified by ex- 
press, came down with his company, and with his 
aid, they ran Fanning back to his old haunts. 
Gillespie was a man of most daring courage, and 
would have been glad to measure swords with Col. 
Fanning or any other Tory in the land. They over- 
took one of those, whom they found at the " gallows 
limb," about to bury or rob the corpse of the Whig 
whom they had just hung, and Clarke shot at him. 
He wounded him, but not badly. The man however, 
" played possum" so well, that he deceived them, and 
they left him before he was dead, when he jumped 
up and ran away. They left so soon, because they 
were impatient to overtake the rest, and they got in 
chase of one or two, but they could not overtake 
them. During this pursuit, they got in chase of 
Michael Robbins, who was yet skulking about in the 
country, and Clarke shot at him with his pistol, but 
missed, and Robbins escaped ; immediately after 
which Robbins left the country and never returned. 
If we are right in our conjectures, this proves that Fan- 
ning, for natural abilities, was no ordinary man, and 
that, during his brief career, he was a more terrible 
scourge to this country, than the good people of the 
present day can easily imagine. 



THE MEBANE FAMILY. 359 



THE MEBANE FAMILY. 

" Colonel Alexander Mebane, the patriarch of the 
family, came from the north of Ireland and settled 
in Pennsylvania, where he remained several years, 
when he removed with his family to North Carolina 
and settled in the Hawfields, in Orange county. 
He was a man of good sense, upright, industrious 
and prudent in the management of his business 
affairs and soon acquired considerable wealth. He 
was commissioned Colonel and Justice of the Peace 
under the Regal government. He had twelve chil- 
dren, six sons and six daughters, all of whom, except 
one, married and settled and raised families in 
Orange county. 

After the Declaration of Independence it was 
soon ascertained that they were in the neighborhood 
of many Tories ; but the old gentlemen and all his 
sons except the youngest who was not grown, at once 
became Whigs and active defenders of the liberties 
of the country and supporters of the army The 
British and Tories committed great depredations on 
the old gentleman's property — burnt his barns 
and fences, plundered his dwelling and took away 
every thing they could carry, even emptying the 
feathers from the beds and carrying away the ticks 
and furniture. The old gentleman was too old to 
become an active soldier himself; but his sons were 
active and zealous in the cause of Independence. 
William, the oldest, was a Captain in the militia. 



360 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

Alexander was constantly and actively engaged in 
tlie service of his country, and in addition to other 
duties, he discharged that of Commissary in collect- 
ing and distributing supplies of necessary provisions 
to the troops. The neighborhood was so much 
harassed by the Tories that he was compelled to 
send some of his oldest children and servants to a 
place in an adjoining county out of their range. 
When Cornwallis took Hillsboro', he narrowly escaped 
on foot, leaving a valuable mare, saddle, bridle, 
holsters and pistols. Whilst the British army were 
in Hillsboro', a company of them who went into the 
country around to collect supplies visited his mill 
and dwelling, when there was no person on the 
premises except his wife and some of the youngest 
children, and carried away meal from the mill, and 
bacon and poultry from and about the house. A 
few days after this, Lee's company of Light Horse 
with a company of Catawba Indians passed by the 
mill ; and in a day or two after this, eight or ten of 
General Picken's men called at the gate, when Mrs. 
Mary Mebane, wife of Alexander, went out accom- 
panied by some of the youngest children who were 
at home with her, and one of the men presented a 
pistol to her breast and threatened to shoot her 
unless she would tell them where her husband was. 
She replied that he was where he ought to be, in 
General Green's camp ; and after some more talk, 
they asked her for something to eat. She brought it 
out to them, and they eat it sitting on their horses, 
and departed. 



THE MEBANE FAMILY. 361 

Col. Robert Mebane was a man of undoubted 
courage and activity in the cause of his country and 
was a Colonel in the Continental line of the army. 
He was in many battles and skirmishes with the 
British and Tories. At the battle on Cane creek he 
displayed great prowess and valor and fought hero- 
like. General Butler having ordered a retreat, 
Colonel Mebane rushed before the retreating army 
and, by violent efforts, got a part of them stopped, 
and gained a victory. Towards the close of the 
battle, ammunition becoming scarce, he passsed along 
the line carrying powder in his hat and distributing 
it among the soldiers, encouraging and animating 
them to persevere in the bloody strife. He was 
afterwards with his regiment on the waters of the 
Cape Fear, contending with the Tories ; but being 
notified that his services were needed in the northern 
part of the State, he set out accompanied only by his 
servant. On the way, he came upon a noted Tory 
and horse thief, by the name of Henry Hightower 
who was armed with a British musket. Knowing him, 
and perhaps too fearless and regardless of the con- 
sequences, he pursued him and when within striking 
distance with his arm uplifted, Hightower wheeled 
and shot him. Perhaps one of the first expeditions 
in which he was engaged was in company with General 
Rutherford, in 1776, with one thousand and nine hun- 
dred men, against the "overhill Cherokees," routing 
them, burning their towns and destroying their crops, 
in which he displayed his fearlessness and unflinching 

31 



362 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

courage. In person he was large, strong, active, 
and of commanding appearance. 

Colonel John Mebane, late of Chatham county, 
entered as Captain in the service of his country in 
the time of the revolution. When Hillsboro' was 
taken by the British and Tories, the Tories com- 
manded by the notorious David Fanning, he was 
captured and with Thomas Burke, Governor of the 
state, and William Kinchen and others, was marched 
under the Tory Col. McDougal, who, although there 
was an attempt made by the Whigs to rescue them 
at Lindley's mill, succeeded in taking them to Wil- 
mington, N. C, when they were put on board a 
prison-ship and from there taken to Charleston, 
S. C. where they were still confined on board the 
ship for a long time, suffering extremely by the 
privations, heat, filth and vermin and the diseases 
common on board prison-ships. As John Mebane 
and William Kinchen, after their release, were on 
their way home, Kinchen was taken sick and died. 

A skirmish took place in the Hawfields, near old 
Colonel Mebane's house, between a small party of 
Whigs and Tories, in which the Tories were defeated 
and fled. The Whigs pursued them. Joseph Hodge, 
a valiant Whig, who was very resolute and eager in 
the pursuit, overtook a noted Tory, by the name of 
John Hasting, who was an active Tory and had 
piloted the British and Tories through the neighbor- 
hood (he living near Col. Mebane's,) to places where 
their property was concealed. 

Hasting was armed with a British musket and 



THE MEBANE FAMILY. 363 

bayonet. He was overtaken, surrendered to Hodge, 
and pitched his musket from him which stuck in the 
ground by the bayonet. Hodge, wheeled, to pursue 
the other Tories who were still before, leaving Hast- 
ing to the care of John Steel, who was just behind. 
Hasting took his gun and shot Hodge, as he rode 
from him, in the hip with the iron ramrod, and 
attempted to escape. Steel fired his rifle at him and 
the ball struck a tree near Hasting's head. Steel 
then charged upon him with his sword, cutting his 
nose through into the face, and splitting his head in 
a variety of places, and would have killed him if it 
had not been for the entreaties of Hodge, who was 
lying near with the iron ramrod sticking in him, and 
begged him to spare his life. He being then lite- 
rally cut to pieces, he got a hat, fitted the pieces of 
skin on his head and put on the hat to hold them 
together. He was then put into the custody of Moses 
Crawford to take him to jail in Hillsboro' ; but as 
they were passing the lane of James Mebane, Senr., 
Hasting snatched a stake out of the fence, knocked 
Crawford down and escaped. The ramrod was 
drawn, with much effort, from Hodge, and he 
had to secrete himself from the Tories until he got 
well. During this time he was occasionally visited 
by Doct. John Umstead, a worthy man and eminent 
physician, who practised medicine successfully for 
many years, after the war, in the Hawfields, and 
whose memory is yet cherished by many who had 
partaken of his kindness and skill. David Mebane, 
the youngest of the brothers, did not arrive at the 



864 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

age at which men were taken into the service until 
near the close of the war, yet he served two terms in 
the militia. 

After the close of the war, the sons of old Colonel 
Mebane were highly respected for their services in 
obtaining the liberty and independence of the coun- 
try, and were frequently called upon to serve their 
country in various departments. William Mebane 
was chosen by the freeholders of Orange county, in 
1782, to serve them in the Senate of the General 
Assembly, with William McCauley and Mark Patter- 
son in the Commons. He was twice married. His 
first wife was a Miss Abercrombie, with whom he 
lived many years, and in his old age he married 
a Miss Rainey, a daughter of the Rev. Benjamin 
Rainey. He died leaving no child, having had none 
by either marriage. 

Alexander Mebane was a member of the Provincial 
Congress or Convention that met at Halifax, on the 
16th day of December, A. D., 1776, to form a Con- 
stitution of the State, and of the Convention at 
Hillsboro', to fix the Seat of Government and adopt 
the Constitution of the United States. He was a 
member of the House of Commons of the General 
Assembly, in 1783, '84, '87, '88, '89, '90, '91, and 
'92. 

About this time he was elected a Brigadier-gene- 
ral by the General Assembly of North Carolina. In 
1793, he was elected a member of Congress and 
served two sessions in Philadelphia. He was elected 
again to the next Congress, but died before the com- 



THE MEBANE FAMILY. 865 

mencement, on the 5tli day of July, 1795. He was 
distinguished for his sound practical sense, his un- 
blemished integrity and unflinching firmness. Gene- 
ral Alexander Mebane was born in Pennsylvania, 
26th of November, 1744. He was married to Mary 
Armstrong, of Orange county, in February, 1767, 
by whom he had twelve children, four sons and eight 
daughters. One of the daughters died before she 
was grown. All the other children married and had 
families. Of his sons there are yet alive, James 
Mebane, Esquire, now near Yancyville, Caswell 
county, who has been much in public life, served 
very often in both Houses of the legislature, was one 
of the first students at Chapel Hill, and one of the 
founders of the literary societies there. The Dia- 
lective Society, to perpetuate his name and his ser- 
vices, have procured a life-like portrait of him, that 
may be seen in their hall. He married in early 
life, Elizabeth Kinchen, the only child of William 
Kinchen, whose name has been mentioned in this 
sketch, by whom he had six children, five sons and 
one daughter. William, who lives at Mason Hall, 
in Orange county, and Doct. John Alexander Me- 
bane, at Greensboro', Guilford county. Of his 
daughters, two only survive, Frances, the wife of the 
Rev. William D. Paisley, who is the son of Colonel 
John Paisley, a brave and valiant soldier of the Re- 
volution, and Elizabeth, the wife of William H. 
Goodloe, of Madison county, Mississippi. General 
Alexander Mebane was, in his person, what is gene- 
rally termed a likely man, about six feet high, of 
31* 



366 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

ruddy complexion, black hair and of robust appear- 
ance. He was a member of the Presbyterian church, 
and died on the 5th day of July, 1795, with a com- 
fortable assurance of a glorious and blessed immor- 
tality. Some of his last words were — / knoio Him 
in whom I have believed. 

Capt. James Mebane was also actively employed 
during the Revolutionary war. He married Marga- 
ret Allen, of the Hawfields, by whom he had a large 
family of children. He died some years before his 
wife. 

Col. John Mebane, late of Chatham county, was 
elected for that county, and served in the House of 
Commons of the General Assembly, in 1790, '91, 
'92, '93, '95, '98, '99, 1800-1-3-8-9-11. About 
the close of the war he married Mrs. Sarah Kinchen, 
widow of William Kinchen, who died on his way 
home from the prison-ship, at Charleston, S. C, by 
whom he had one son, John Briggs Mebane, who 
represented the county in the House of Commons in, 
1813, and one daughter who married Thomas Hill, 
of Rockingham county. 

David Mebane, the youngest son of the patriarch 
of the family, represented the county of Orange, in 
the House of Commons, in the years 1808, '09 and 10. 
He married Miss Ann Allen, of the Hawfields. He 
had a large family of children, of whom, George A. 
Mebane of Mason Hall, merchant and Post Master, 
is one. After the death of his first wife, he married 
Mrs. Elizabeth Young, of Caswell, by whom he had 



THE MEBANE FAMILY.' 367 

one daughter. He died several years before his last 
wife. 

A considerable portion of this numerous family 
are now living in Orange, Caswell and Guilford coun- 
ties ; but a large portion have migrated to the west 
and are living in various States of Tennessee, -Ken- 
tucky, Mississippi, Indiana, Arkansas, Louisiana 
and Texas." 

The above sketch was furnished by James Mebane, 
Esq., of Caswell county, who is so well known 
over the State for his integrity, his strong good sense, 
his public spirit and the consistency of his Christian 
deportment. It was furnished at my special request , 
and for this act of courtesy and kindness I consider 
myself under strong obligations. 

It was my design from the first, provided the 
memoranda could be obtained, to give a sketch of 
Col. Robert Mebane, whose military and patri- 
otic services, during the war, I had always heard 
mentioned in terms of high commendation ; and for 
this purpose I applied to his nephew, Doct. John A. 
Mebane, of Greensboro', who told me that he had 
several brothers who were equally patriotic and active 
during that eventful period of our country's history. 
I then told him that I would be glad to get an account 
of the others also ; and he referred me to his brother 
James who was much older and much better acquainted 
with the history of the family. At my request he 
promptly consented to procure the facts from his 
brother; and the sketch which he has furnished is 
certainly a very well written one for a man who is 



368 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

seventy -five years of age. It contains many facts of 
interest, as matters of history, and having been 
written, as it evidently was, with great candor and 
modesty, it will be read with pleasure by every one 
who admires the spirit and character of the men who 
achieved our independence. 

According to the information which I have had 
from other sources, I would say that the writer, in 
this plain and honest statement of facts, instead of 
exaggerating, has fallen below the truth; and that in 
all honesty and fairness, much more might have been 
said. Some ten or twelve years ago I called to see 
Nathaniel Slade, then a man of advanced age, but a 
respectable citizen of Caswell county. He had been 
in the Guilford battle, and on more than one expedi- 
tion with Col. Kobert Mebane. The energy and 
firmness which Mebane displayed in the battle on 
Cane Creek have been already noticed. Disregard- 
ing the order of General Butler for a retreat, he ral- 
lied as many of the men as he could, renewed the 
conflict and gained a victory, or rather made it a 
" drawn battle." At the first opportunity, he went 
to Butler, told him that he had disobeyed his order 
to retreat, and then off'ered him his sword ; but But- 
ler had, of course, too much sense to receive it. In 
this he showed the courage and magnanimity of a 
hero ; and all the testimony I have had, in regard to 
to this whole affair, is perfectly accordant. 

Immediately after the battle on Cane creek, Gene- 
ral Butler collected as many men as possible, on 
the spur of the occasion, and pursued the Tories. 



THE MEBANE FAMILY. db9 

Slade and Mebane were both on this expedition, as 
thej both belonged to Butler's District. Whether it 
was owing to the difficulties which could not be over- 
come, or to the want of sufficient firmness on the part 
of the commanding officer, the writer has no means 
of ascertaining ; but they did not overtake the Tories 
and could not rescue the Governor. At a place 
called the Brown Marsh, they met a party of British 
and Tories, and a skirmish ensued. Slade told me 
that Butler, under an impression that the enemy had 
"field pieces," ordered a retreat after the first fire 
and set the example himself; but Mebane did just as 
he had done on Cane creek, disobeyed orders, rallied 
as many of the men as he could, and continued the 
fight until they were overpowered by numbers, or by 
British discipline, and were obliged to retreat. Slade 
said that he was not far from Mebane, and heard him 
giving his orders in a bold strong voice : " Now give it 
to them boys — fire ! Load again, boys, and give 
them another round — fire !" True courage is one of 
those things which cannot be counterfeited; and a 
man of real energy and firmness will make his mark 
wherever he goes. In this aff*air at Brown Marsh, 
as at the battle on Cane creek, Mebane showed an 
utter disregard of his own safety ; and the old man 
Slade, when speaking of it seemed to become quite 
enthusiastic. It was on his return from this expe- 
dition that he was killed or mortally wounded by the 
Tory, as above related, and his death was much re- 
gretted by the Whig party. 

In the last will and testament of Colonel John Me- 



370 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

bane, of Chatham county^ which is dated May 31st, 
1834, I find the following bequest which relates to a 
military relic of his brother, Colonel Robert Mebane, 
and touchingly indicates the martial spirit of the two 
brothers. " Item. I give and bequeath to my nephew. 
Dr. John A. Mebane, of Greensboro', my silver hilted 
sword, it being the first sword taken from the British 
in North Carolina during the revolutionary war, by 
my brother Col. Robert Mebane." 

The sword mentioned in the above extract, was 
taken by Colonel Mebane, from a British officer, 
somewhere about Wilmington, or in that region, but 
precisely when, and under what circumstances is not 
now recollected. It has been carefully preserved by 
Doctor Mebane, to whom it was bequeathed ; and will 
probably be handed down as a kind of "heir-loom" in 
the family, for generations to come. 



CAPTAIN WILLIAM CLARKE. 371 



CAPTAIN WILLIAM CLARKE. 

Samuel Clarke, whose sons appear to have been all 
decided Whigs, during the war, is said to have come 
originally from the north of Ireland, and belonged to 
the stock of Scotch-Irish Presbyterians. He came 
to North Carolina, with a young family, in the early 
settlement of the country, and located himself on 
Deep river, a few miles above Bell's mill. The family 
were all Presbyterians during the war, and for a 
number of years after. As there were some other 
Presbyterian families near enough to attend preach- 
ing at the same place, they built a log house for a 
place of public worship, about three miles from Bell's 
mill and known for a long time as Bell's meeting 
house. Here they had preaching occasionally, and 
it is said that a small church was organized there, but 
it is believed that they never had stated preaching by 
any minister of that denomination, or, not for any 
length of time. 

Nothing more is known to the writer, in regard to 
the number or circumstances of the old man's family, 
except that he had six sons, William, Thomas, Ed- 
ward, Samuel, Joseph and John, all of whom, as I 
have been told, were Whigs during the war ; and 
three or four of them were very active, resolute and 
efficient men. William was probably the oldest, and 
became the most prominent. John, though the 
youngest, is said to have been a man of more daring 
courage than any of them, but his impetuosity was 



872 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS, 

not so much under the control of his judgment. When 
William was appointed Captain is not known, but 
probably when the South became the seat of war. 
Joseph also seems to have been a captain, for he had, 
towards the close of the war, a troop of mounted men 
generally under his command. They appear to have 
been a religious family ; but whether all or any of 
them were in communion with the church, I have not 
learned. William acted as clerk in the public wor- 
ship of the sanctuary, or raised the tune for the con- 
gregation ; and it is still in the recollection of the 
oldest people in that neighborhood that he frequently 
shed tears while parcelling out the lines, which indi- 
cates at least a strong religious feeling. This was 
before the British army entered North Carolina, 
about the beginning of 1781, and consequently before 
the war between Whigs and Tories had begun to rage 
with any degree of virulence. After that there was 
very little opportunity or inclination for public wor- 
ship, and all the worst passions of the human heart, 
even in good men, for a time, gained an undue ascen- 
dancy. The country was filled with violence and all 
the fruits of piety seemed to wither as if smitten by 
some pestilential blight. 

The people of the south and east parts of the 
county were chiefly Tories ; but in the west and north- 
west part, where there was a considerable amount of 
Scotch-Irish population, there was a respectable num- 
ber of most determined, resolute and thorough-going 
Whigs. At the head of these were the Clarkes and 
Dugans, only two of whom, Thomas and John, are 



CAPTAIN WILLIAM CLARKE. 373 

now much known. Thomas Dugan was a Colonel, 
and a very firm, vigilant and enterprising ofiScer. He 
was as brave as any man ; but his conscience and 
his humanity were equipollent with his courage. He 
was highly respected by both parties for his prudence, 
uprightness and generosity ; and even the Tories, on 
some occasions, interposed to save his life, when 
otherwise he would have been put to death. William 
Clarke, with his company, was always ready to obey 
the call of his country, and his 'services were much in 
demand. It has always been said, that he was one 
of the most energetic and intrepid men in the coun- 
try. When not in the army, he was often out against 
the Tories, always on the alert, hardly ever idle and 
never taken by surprise. He and two or three of his 
brothers, particularly Joseph and John, were so dar- 
ing in their spirit and so rapid in their motions, that 
the very name of Clarke became nearly or quite as 
much of a terror to the Tories, as the name of Fan- 
ning was to the Whigs of that region. He was the 
foremost man in capturing and putting to death the 
notorious Major Elrod ; but as a fuller account of 
that transaction has been given in a separate article, 
we pass it over here. How much he was in the 
army I have not learned; but it is known that 
he served two campaigns in South Carolina, He 
served one campaign there under General Lincoln ; 
but whether he was made prisoner when Charleston 
was taken, no one now recollects. He was there 
again at a subsequent period, and was probably at the 
battle of Eutaw in the fall of 1781. Isaac Farlow, 



374 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

•who was intimately acquainted with liim and often 
heard him relate these things, says that he was in a 
battle near Charleston where seven hundred men 
were killed and wounded ; but we presume it was the 
battle of Eutaw, as that was the only battle in that 
State in which any thing like so many were killed. 
The old man says Clarke told him he knew he had 
killed one man in that battle, and might have killed 
more, which was a serious matter in the estimation 
of a Quaker, and would be a serious matter with 
every man, religious or not, if he would soberly con- 
sider the subject. If such reflections were to become 
universal, they would soon put a stop to war. 

After the independence of the country was estab- 
lished and he was enjoying, in common with all 
others, the freedom for which he had fought, he 
began to reflect on the past and to inquire into the 
future. The storm had passed and all was gradually 
settling down into a pleasant calm. The time and 
the circumstances were calculated to bring his past 
course into review, and to lead his thoughts forward 
into the distant future. His early education and the 
reasonings of his own strong and vigorous mind had 
taught him that the pardon of sin and a renovation 
of his moral powers were necessary to a peaceful 
death and to any well founded hopes of future rest. 
He had not been a "go-between " nor had his course 
been an inefiicient one, consequently he had done a 
great deal of good or committed a great deal of sin — 
perhaps both. At all events he found that he was 
far from the great source of all -happiness and there 



CAPTAIN WILLIAM CLARKE. 375 

was much in his past life which would not bear 
examination. His past sins all came in array before 
him and imbittered all his enjoyments. He thought 
of God and was afraid. He had never been troubled 
with the fear of man ; but he feared his Maker. He 
thought, he trembled, he was much distressed. He 
had fought and conquered in the cause of civil 
liberty; but now he sighed for a far higher and 
more important freedom. There was no preacher of 
his own denomination to explain to him the way of 
salvatfon and he was left, with the Bible in his hand, 
to seek and find the way himself. 

In this perplexed and troubled state of mind he 
continued for several years ; but at length he settled 
down, on the great doctrine of atonement and began 
to feel that he was "a sinner saved by grace." 
Having thus settled the great question of his accept- 
ance with God and of his future obedience, on which 
every thing else depended, his next inquiry was to 
know what the Lord would have him to do or to find 
that upward and brightening path which leads to the 
final abodes of the blest : of course many former 
practices had to be abandoned and new ones com- 
menced. Among the former, the most prominent 
and the most difficult to be settled were those of war 
and negro slavery. In regard to the latter, he read 
in the Declaration of Independence that the great 
principle for which he and others had been fighting 
and shedding each other's blood was that " all men 
are born free and equal." In the New Testament he 
read, " Call no man master, but by love serve one 



37G IIEVOLUTIONAIIY INCIDENTS. 

another. In Christ Jesus there is neither Greek nor 
Jew, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free, but all are 
one in Christ Jesus. "Whatsoever ye would that 
men should do unto you do ye the same unto them,'* 
and he found it to be the burden of evangelical 
prophecy that Christ would "bind up the broken 
hearted, proclaim liberty to the captives and the 
opening of the prison to them that are found." 

On the subject of war, he read such passages as 
the following : " Return not evil for evil, but over- 
come evil with good. Thou shalt not kill ; whoso- 
ever shall kill, shall be in danger of the judgment. 
If thine enemy hunger, feed him ; and if he thirst, 
give him drink. Ye have heard that it hath been 
said. An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth; 
But I say unto you that ye resist not evil ; but who- 
soever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to 
him the other also. And if any man will sue thee 
at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy 
cloak also. From whence came wars and fightings 
among you ? Come they not hence, even of your 
lusts that war in your members." On returning 
home once, from some tour of military service, his 
clothes were all spattered over with human blood 
and brains ; and this made a vivid impression on his 
mind for many years after. He remembered the 
dying looks of those who fell by his sword, and that 
increased the anguish of his spirit. He was brave, 
but he was humane, too. He could face the cannon, 
and stand firm on the field of battle ; but he could 
not brave the terrors of the Almighty, nor bear the 



CAPTAIN WILLIAM CLARKE. 377 

reproaclies of his own conscience. No wonder that 
having obtained forgiveness himself, he should feel like 
forgiving those who had injured him. No wonder that 
having had his own heart subdued by the goodness 
of God, he should feel like overcoming evil with good, 
and subduing the enmity of others, by the benign 
pow3r of Christian kindness. Such were the facts in 
the case, substantially, as I received them, here a 
little and there a little. Such was the process by 
which Captain William Clarke, there amidst the 
crags and solitudes of Deep river, was employed in 
working out for himself the solution of the important 
question whether war and slavery were in accord- 
ance with the cardinal principles of the Gospel ; and 
in view of all the circumstances, we cannot do other- 
wise than feel a deep interest in contemplating the 
mental and moral progress of a man, who when con- 
tending for national freedom and independence, 
would, at any time, rush upon his foes in all the con- 
fidence of victory, just as if he felt that he had a 
perfect right to conquer, and who always came off 
victorious. Whether right or wrong in his conclu- 
sions, we must admire his frankness, his regard for 
truth and his decision of character. 

Having satisfied his mind that war and slavery 
were both wrong, it was a matter of course for him 
to stand by his convictions and to practice Avhat he 
believed. From that time he was a Quaker in prac- 
tice, as well as principle, and soon after connected 
himself with the Society. It was during a quarterly 
meeting at Centre meetings-house, when David Havi- 



378 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

land, from the north, attended and preached. On 
Saturday, at the close of the services, Clarke rose to 
his feet, and walking up towards the place where the 
preacher had stood, and around which the office hear- 
ers of the Society usually sat, he told them he had 
a desire to become a member of that religious 
society, and that he had been for some time using 
"the plain language." This was in 1800, and my 
informant, Isaac Farlow, was present. He had six 
children — two daughters, one of whom married Ben- 
jamin Saunders, the other married a man by the 
name of Lamb ; and four sons, Dugan, Alexander, 
John and Thomas. His descendants are still in the 
country, and so far as I know, have a respectable 
standing in society. 

We do not know the process of reasoning by which 
General Green was turned from being a Quaker to 
be a man of war. Possibly he had no conscientious- 
ness and no process of reasoning about it ; but merely 
followed the combined impulse of his patriotic feel- 
ings, his love of liberty and the martial tendencies of 
his nature. However this may have been, the mere 
fact that William Clarke, though a hero, and a man 
naturally of strong mind, turned to be a Quaker, is 
no proof that he was right ; for, where conscience 
and duty are concerned, men of vigorous and en- 
lightened minds often change and go in opposite 
directions. The opinions which a man who is in 
earnest about his future welfare, forms on many 
points of faith and practice, must depend partly on 
the circumstances in which he is placed, and the faci- 



CAPTAIN WILLIAM CLARKE. 6l\) 

lities which he possesses for ascertaining the truth ; 
and partly on the original texture of his mind, or 
on the constitutional and relative adjustment of 
his powers. There are in the Christian system, as 
in every thing else, certain elementary and cardinal 
principles, on which all must be pretty well agreed ; 
but there are others on which there may be some 
modification of belief and practice. Of these, the 
lawfulness of war is one ; and great and good men 
have frequently been found on opposite sides. 

Without discussing here the question whether our 
Quaker friends have carried the doctrine of " passi- 
vity" to an extreme or not, we honor them for their 
frank and fearless avowal of what they believed to 
be a cardinal doctrine of the Christian system, and 
for the general consistency with which they have 
maintained their position. We hold to the right of 
self-defence, properly interpreted, whether in nations 
or individuals ; for it seems to be a universal law of 
nature to protect itself; and this law of nature, 
"according to our understanding of the matter, is in 
full accordance with the written law of heaven ; but 
we are no advocates of war, and care not how much 
it is denounced, when done in the right spirit. The 
unlawfulness of war is not a Quaker doctrine, but a 
Gospel doctrine, and has always been held by most 
evangelical Christians. Where life is taken by vio- 
lence and with the intention to take it, except when it 
is done by the civil authority and for murder or its 
equivalent, there is murder; and war is nothing more 
nor less than wholesale murder, at least on the part of 



380 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

the aggressors. Those who make the war, not only 
intend to destroy life, and to destroy it by the whole- 
sale, but they do it from the same '^ malice afore- 
thought" which constitutes murder in the judgment 
of all civilized nations. They are actuated by the 
same spirit of avarice, revenge, or lust of power 
which prompts the assassin, tlie duelist or the high- 
way robber to imbrue his hands in the blood of his 
fellow man. 

When nations or communities have once engaged 
in mortal conflict, the party assailed are too apt to 
catch the spirit of their assailants, and, according to 
the teachings of the Bible, become chargeable with 
murder in the sight of Heaven. It is time that the 
character of war, as one of the most horrid manifes- 
tations of human depravity, and the immense respon- 
sibility resting upon the originators and abettors of 
war was more seriously considered, and its suppres- 
sion made as much of an object as the suppression of 
intemperance, or the spread of the Gospel, The 
friends of peace, or tliose who profess to be such, 
and especially professing Christians of every name, 
throughout Protestant Christendom, have never 
begun to do their duty on this subject, as a whole, 
or en masse. They have not even formed the purpose 
to do it. Although they were designed to be the 
light of the world and the salt of the earth, although 
they are taught in the Bible that their power of re- 
sistance to evil will be increased ten or a hundred 
fold, in proportion to their numbers, they have never 
combined their kindly influence into one great undi- 



CAPTAIN WILLIAM CLARKE. 381 

vided wljole, and fairly tried the effect of Gospel 
truth on this subject, enforced by their own warm 
and beneficent feelings. They have never spoken 
with a united, harmonious, unhesitating voice of re- 
monstrance and in tones of strong affection, that 
would pervade the entire mass of humanity and cause 
the war-making powers of the earth to feel the 
malignity of their murderous intentions, and to stand 
aghast at the enormity of their past wickedness. 
There is wanting, on the part of professing Chris- 
tians and the friends of peace, a clearer understand- 
ing of the murderous character and destructive effects 
of war, a stronger confidence in the power of truth 
and a full determination to do their duty in the spirit 
of peace and good will. The course of procedure is 
a very obvious and simple one. It is just that in 
which Gospel truth is most successfully promulgated 
and in which any object of great and general interest 
is obtained, that is, by united, earnest and perseve- 
ing effort ; and this country has now greater advan- 
tages for beginning the movement, than any other. 
At all events, we should like to see the experiment 
fairly and fully tried. We should like to see a 
strong, earnest appeal made to the rulers and poten- 
tates of the earth on this subject, and backed by a 
petition with a list of signatures which would encircle 
the globe, bearing, at every point, a testimony, which 
all heaven would approve, and sending forth, in every 
direction, a benign influence which would soon make 
all the inhabitants of the earth rejoice. 



382 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 



MASSACRE AT THE PTXEY BOTTOM AND THE 
REVENGE TAKEN BY THE WHIGS. 

The following facts were furnislied by an intelli- 
gent and highly esteemed friend, in that region, who 
has taken much pains to have them substantially 
correct ; and they are given here as illustrative of 
the vindictive spirit, which then reigned in both 
parties, and of the deeds of reckless cruelty, which 
were then committed, every where over the country. 
As he only furnished the facts, I have not copied his 
language ; but have not exaggerated or altered the 
statements. 

Capt. Neill McCranie, who belonged to Colonel 
Armstrong's command, was stationed west of 
Fayetteville, near little Kockfish ; and kept the 
Tories, for some time, tolerably quiet ; and so did 
Colonel Mathew's, who was stationed on Crane's 
creek, in the lower edge of Moore county ; but the 
Tories ultimately got possession of the whole country, 
between the Cape Fear and Pedee rivers. Gates 
was defeated at Camden, and the British overran 
South Carolina. Many fled for safety from South 
Carolina and the Pedee country, into North Carolina 
and a number went on to the Whig region, on Neuse 
river. Among these, were Captain Culp, of South 
Carolina, Colonel Wade, of Anson county, and Archd. 
McKizic, of Ashpole, in Robeson county, whose son 
was taken prisoner, as above related, at McPherson's 



MASSACRE AT THE PINEY EOTTOxM. 883 

Mill creek, and whose property was all destroyed 
before his return. 

After Cornwallis had gone north, and General 
Green into South Carolina, Colonel Wade and Cap- 
tain Gulp concluded that they would return home; 
and before setting out, they loaded their waggons 
with salt and such other articles, as were needed 
most in the Pedee country. They crossed the Cape 
Fear, at Sproal's, now McNeill's ferry, in the after- 
noon, and after going a few miles, took up camp for 
the night. That night or next morning, some of their 
men or hands, went off the road, and stole a piece of 
coarse cloth from Marren McDaniel, a poor servant 
girl, who had hired herself to a man by the name of 
John McDaniel. She had been unable to pay the 
weaver ; for the cloth was so coarse that he would 
take no part of it for pay, and he was about to retain 
the whole, until payment was made, much to the 
grief of the poor girl; but old Daniel Munroe, being 
present, and seeing her troubles, paid the weaver, 
and let her take the cloth home. In the course of 
that night, John McNeill, son of Archd. and Jennet 
(Bann,) McNeill then living on Anderson's creek, 
having learned where this company of Whigs were, 
started out his runners to collect the Tories, many of 
whom were lying out in the swamps and other places, 
with directions for them to rendezvous the next 
night, at Long street, and pursue Wade. Next 
morning John McNeill went over to Colonel Folsone's 
(Whig,) and remained until sundown. He then 
mounted a very fleet horse, joined the Tories at or a 



384 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

little beyond Long street, and about an liour before 
day, came up with Wade and company, encamped 
on Piney Bottom, a branch of the Rockfish, and 
apparently all asleep except the sentinel. They con- 
sulted and made their arrangements, got into order 
and marched up. The sentinel hailed them, but 
received no answer. He hailed them again, but 
received no answer. Duncan McCallum cocked his 
gun, and determined to shoot at the flash of the 
sentinel's gun. The sentinel fired, and McCallum 
shot at the flash. One of Wade's men had his arm 
broke by a ball, and Duncan McCallum claimed the 
honor of breaking it. Then they rushed upon the 
sleeping company, just as they were roused by the 
fire of the sentinel's gun, and shot down five or~ six 
of them but the rest escaped, leaving every thing 
behind them. A motherless boy, who had been 
taken by Colonel Wade as a protege, was asleep in 
one of the waggons, and being roused by the firing 
of the guns, and before he was fully awake, cried 
out, "Parole me! parole me!" Duncan Ferguson, a 
renegade deserter from the American army, told him 
to come out and he would parole him. He came out 
and dropped upon his knees, begging for his life ; but 
on seeing Feguson approaching him in a threatening 
manner he jumped up and ran. Ferguson took after 
him and Colonel McDougal after Ferguson, threaten- 
ing him that if he touched the boy he would cut him 
down-. Ferguson still ran on, however, until he over- 
took the boy, and then with his broad sword, split 
his head wide open, so that one half of it fell on one 



MASSACRE AT THE PINEY BOTTOM. 385 

shoulder and the other half on the other shoulder. The 
waggons were then plundered, the officers taking the 
money and the men whatever else they could carry 
away. .There were two or three hundred of the 
Tories. All the McNeills (Bans) were there except 
Malcom. Wade and Gulp had only a few men to guard 
their families, while they were returning home in a 
peacable manner; and the fact that many of their 
guns w^ere found without flints and unloaded, proves 
that they apprehended no danger./ 

After plundering the waggons of everything, they 
burned them and carried away the iron traces. In a 
day or two, when the wood-work of the waggons was 
all consumed, some of the Tories returned and car- 
ried away the tires and other irons./ They pretended 
to bury the dead, but did it so slightly, that when 
Malcom Munro, Allen Cameron, Neill Smith and 
Philip Hodges, who had been sent out by Captain 
McCranie as a scout, came to the place, a few days 
after, they found three of them mor^ or less exposed, 
having been scratched up by the wolves, and an arm 
of one of them was entirely out of the ground. This 
looked like extending their cruelty even to the dead, 
or, perhaps, they became suddenly alarmed for their 
own safety and fled ; but the Whig scout had them 
buried more decently, and covered the grave with 
logs, so as to protect it from beasts of prey./ 

On his way home from the scene of his nocturnal 
slaughter and depredation, John McNeill called on 
his friend and neighbor, John McDaniel, and told him 

what an exploit they had performed, how much pkm- 

83 



386 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

der, money and other things they found, and showed 
him a large piece of new cloth which he had got, and 
which he seemed to regard as a valuable prize. Poor 
Marren McDaniel, being present, siezed the cloth 
and claimed it as hers. She said she could prove it 
by the weaver and by old Daniel Munroe, who had 
paid the weaver for her. So the poor girl had her 
plundered web of cloth most unexpectedly returned to 
her, and this was perhaps, the only good which re- 
sulted from that tragical affair. 

About sunrise next morning, after this murder and 
robbery, Captain Gulp came to the house of old 
Mr. McLean, who lived at the ford on Rockfish. 
" Heigh !" said Gulp, " how came you here ?" " Where 
else should I be but at my own house ?" was the reply. 
Gulp said, " I thought you were at Piney Bottom last 
night." "Why, what happened at Piney Bottom?" 
enquired McLean ; and Gulp told him. Gulp was 
riding a horse bare-backed and asked McLean for a 
saddle to ride home, which was readily granted. 
,^^ As soon as Wade and Gulp reached home, they 
collected about one hundred dragoons, or mounted 
men, under Gaptain Bogan ; and they all came down 
swearing never to return until they had avenged the 
death of that murdered boy, who seems to have been 
a favorite with Golonel Wade and, in fact, with all 
that knew him. 

On Thursday evening they encamped on the pre- 
mises of Daniel Patterson, the Piper, who lived on 
Drowning creek, but on the west side and, of course, 
in Richmond county. They caught the old man and 



MASSACRE AT THE PINEY BOTTOM. 387 

whipped him until he gave up the names of all who 
were at Piney Bottom, so far as he knew^ Early on 
Friday, they crossed the creek and entered Moore 
county. They came first to old Kenneth Clarke's, now 
Duncan Blue's, and caught Alexander McLeod, who 
had come there on business and without any appre- 
hension of danger. Having tied him securely and 
pinioned his arms behind his back, they put his little 
brother, John McLeod, a boy about eleven years of 
age, under guard and, leaving the guard there, they 
galloped down to John Clarke's, son of old Kenneth 
Clarke's, but finding no men at the house, they rode 
down to a small field, not far distant, where they 
found John Clarke, Daniel McMillan, Duncan Currie, 
Allen McSweene and an Irishman who was a British 
deserter and wore a red coat, all of whom were help- 
ing John Clarke to make potato hills. Daniel Mc- 
Millan and Duncan Currie had been at Piney Bottom, 
and accomplices in the massacre and plunder of Colo- 
nel Wade's party. John Clarke and Daniel McMil- 
lan had married sisters of Duncan Currie. 

All these were carried up, confined and pinioned, 
to old Kenneth Clarke's, where they had left Alex- 
ander McLeod and his little brother, John McLeod, 
and there they were all kept under guard through 
the day, while the rest were going and coming, ap- 
parently in search of others. They tortured the 
old man Black, very much, by beating him or slap- 
ping him with their swords, and screwing his thumb 
in a gun-lock, until the blood gushed out on each 
side, for the purpose of making him tell where his 



388 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

Other sons •were, but thej could get nothing out of 
him. 

In the evening, a little before sunset, Captain 
Began, and some more of his men, came over the 
creek, and might have been a little intoxicated. At 
all events, he appeared to be in a great rage, and 
ordered the prisoners out from the side of the house 
to be put to death ; and as that much lamented boy 
at the Pinoj Bottom had been killed with the sword, 
it was determined that these prisoners should be put 
to death, by having their heads split open in the 
same way. Alexander McLeod was first taken out, 
and some one or more of the men, sitting on their 
horses and rising in their stirrups, struck him two 
or three times over the head with their swords ; but 
by throwing up his arms, by having on a thick 
wool hat, and by dodging his head, he prevented a 
death blow. On seeing this, the other prisoners 
jumped up and started to run, when the men on 
horseback shot McLeod, putting three musket balls 
into him, and he fell dead on the spot. They then 
commenced running after, and shooting the others, 
who were trying to make their escape. John Clarke, 
after having been shot, ran into the house and died 
immediately. Duncan Currie, in an effort to escape, 
had just got over a high fence, which was joined to 
a corner of the house, but was shot down on the out- 
side. Daniel McMillan came into the house begging 
for his life, with the blood streaming from his side, 
his hunting shirt on fire, where he had been shot in 
the shoulder, his wrist cut and broken by a sword, 



MASSACRE AT THE PINEY BOTTOM. 389 

his arm shattered and torn bj a musket ball, two or 
three balls having passed through his body; but re- 
veftge was not yet satisfied, and another ball through 
his breast near the left shoulder, soon put an end to 
his sufferings. Allan McSweene, was sitting on the 
lid of a pot in the chimney corner, and his wife with 
a child in her arms, was standing before him, in the 
vain hope of being able to conceal him from his ene- 
mies; but as he was not perfectly concealed, the 
boy, John McLeod went up and stood close by her 
side. On seeing this, one of the men jerked him 
away, and cocked his gun at him ; but another, more 
considerate, interceded for him, and saved his life. 
Some one also jerked the wife away prostrate on the 
floor, but gave no further harsh treatment. 

A man will make any effort in his power, however 
desperate, to save his life ; and so he ought, for it is 
a law or instinct of nature. McSweene then jumped 
up and ran, first to one door, and then out at the 
other, with his enemies in pursuit. His hands were 
tied before, and his arms were pinioned behind ; but, 
even when thus confined, and with a last, desperate 
and almost preternatural eff"ort to save his life, he 
leaped a pretty high staked and ridered fence which 
was round the house. Two guns were fired at him 
as he made the leap, still he ran about a quarter of a 
mile before they overtook him, and shot him down, 
putting several balls into his body, and then, having 
fallen on his face, they split his head open to the 
nose. Then charging old Mr. Clarke to have every 
corpse buried by the next evening, or they would 
33* 



390 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

come back and put him to death, they went away, 
and took the deserter with them, riding bare-backed 
with his hands tied, his arms pinioned, and his feet 
tied under the horse. After going two or three miles 
to the eastward, they encamped on a little creek, and 
remained there until Sabbath morning. The deserter 
was never heard of again; but as some guns were 
heard on that morning, and as some bones were 
found years afterwards, at or near the place of their 
encampment, no doubt could he entertained, that he 
was there put to death. 

Early on Sabbath morning, they left their camp- 
ground, and came down to David Buchan's, where 
they found some trace chains, which had been taken 
from the Piney Bottom ; but not finding him at 
home, they set fire to the house, and then came on to 
old Kenneth Black's. He lived where Laughlin 
McKinnon now lives, but in the old field east of the 
creek. They surrounded the premises, but he and 
his son were lying out in a place of concealment, a 
quarter of a mile or more from the house. Gulp and 
some of his men found them, and took them to the 
house. Both doors being open, the men rode into 
the house until it was full of horses, and the family 
were crowded up into the chimney. Having done 
so, they rode out, alighted, and commenced splitting 
some "light wood" to burn the house ; but concluded 
that they would first search it, which they did. On 
going up stairs, they found and broke open two large 
chests, belonging to the families of Captains Verdy, 
Nicholson and McRae, who were in the British 



MASSACRE AT THE PINEY BOTTOM. 391 

army, and who had left their families under the care 
of Mr. Black, as their houses were not far apart. One 
chest was filled with China ware, which they broke ; 
and the other was full of books, which they strewed 
over the floor, having first cut open their backs, and 
rendered them useless. 

At this time, the far-famed Flora McDonald lived 
four miles north of the scene which we have been 
describing, upon a plantation belonging to Mr. 
Black, on Little River, and the one on which his son, 
Malcom Black, now lives. Mr. Black's family having 
had the small pox, two daughters of Flora came over 
to see their friends and his family ; but, to their 
utter surprise, they found the Whigs there, who took 
the gold rings from their fingers and the silk hand- 
kerchiefs from their necks : then putting their swords 
into their bosom, split down their silk dresses and, 
taking them out into the yard, stripped them of all 
their outer clothing. 

During all these transactions, one man was observ- 
ed sitting near Colonel Wade, who, as well as the 
Colonel, seemed to pay no attention to what was 
doing, -but looked serious and even melancholy. 
Mrs. Black asked him why he was not gathering up 
something to take away as well as the rest, to which 
he repliexl that he did not come there to plunder; 
for she had nothing that he wanted — " But, my son ! 
my son !" was his abrupt and pathic exclamation, by 
which the impression made on her mind was that he 
was the father of that motherless little boy who was 
such a favorite of Colonel Wade and his company 



392 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

and who had been so cruelly murdered shortly before 
in the Pmey Bottom. 

Having collected their plunder and mounted their 
horses, just ready to start, Mrs. Black said to them, 
" Well, you have a bad companion with you." 
*' What is that?" was. the inquiry ; and she replied, 
" the small pox." Instantly they threw down the 
blankets, clothing and every thing else of the kind 
that they had taken and rode off in great haste. 
They took Mr. Black along to pilot them down to 
Mr. Bay's ; but after going about half way, probably 
thinking there might be danger of getting the small- 
pox from him, they told him he might return home. 
Some of the men proposed shooting him down ; but 
Gulp told them to go on, while he stayed behind with 
Black for his protection. After going the distance of 
about a hundred yards, one of them turned round 
and fired at Black with his rifle ; but the ball missed 
him and passed very near Gulp's head, who ordered 
them, with a loud, stern voice to go on and behave 
themselves. They pursued their course then ; and 
when they got to the fork in the road, some went to 
Alexander Graham's, and some to Alexander Black's, 
the place on which the Honorable Laughlin Bethune 
now lives, at both of which places a similar course 
was pursued and with similar results. 

Whent hose who took the road to Squire Graham's 
came in sight of the house, there was one man out 
at the corn crib who slipped under it without being 
seen, and Archibald Peterson was sitting in the 
house by the fire who jumped into a bed at the 



MASSACRE AT THE PINEY BOTTOM. 393 

lower end of the house and drew the bed clothes 
over him. One of the young ladies then, with great 
presence, of mind, took up a broom and stood by the 
bed-side, waiving it over him very deliberality, as if 
keeping off the flies. When the men rushed into the 
house, they enquired, " where is such a man ? and 
where is such another man?" " She could not tell;" 
but on observing her so gravely and deliberalety 
keeping the flies off the man in bed, they asked her 
what was the matter with the sick man ; " The small 
pox:" — "well this is no place for us;" and they 
immediately started towards the door; but just at 
that moment they heard the firing of guns over at 
Alexander Black's, where the other party had gone. 
" There," they exclaimed, clapping their hands to- 
gether, "there they have caught Alexander Black" 
Then mounting their horses, they galloped over to 
his house and found him dying. 

Taking the road now towards Rockfish, before 
they reached it. Captain Gulp rode on a head to see 
and protect his old friend McLean. When the men 
arrived, he told them to pass on ; for, McLean not 
having been at the Piney Bottom, was his friend, and 
they must do no mischief there ; so they crossed the 
Rockfish and came to the house of Peter Blue, where 
they found him and Archibald McBride, and shot 
them both. Blue was badly though not mortally woun- 
ded ; but McBride was shot dead on the spot. This 
was sorely to be lamented ; for McBride was a sound 
Whig, one of Captain McCranie's men and was 
then at home on parole ; but he was found in com- 



394 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

pany with a man who had been at the Piney Bottom, 
and without any inquiry, or waiting for explanation, 
they recklessly shot him down. 

The Whigs, it must be admitted, had great pro- 
vocation; but still most people will perhaps think 
that they carried their revenge too far, and that 
they let their resentment of a most wanton and 
atrocious act of cruelty control their judgment and 
their better feelings ; or we may suppose that their 
object was, not merely to take revenge for the 
murders committed at the Piney Bottom, but to teach 
the Tories a lesson w^hich they would not soon forget, 
and to make an impression which would deter them 
from ever attempting such a thing again. If this 
was their object, it may be said to have been accom- 
plished ; for they were now both deterred and 
disabled. 

My correspondent says that the Tories were now 
under dreadful apprehensions, believing that it was 
Wade's intention to scour the whole country and put 
every man of them to the sword. They were there- 
fore greatly relieved in their feelings when his revenge 
seemed to be satisfied, and when he began to turn his 
course towards home. lie turned down through the 
upper end of Robeson county and passed thence 
through the lower side of Richmond, by the Rockdale 
mills, into the Pedee country. 

At the Rockdale mills, there lived some free mu- 
lattoes by the name of Turner, who were Tories and 
very wicked. The troops engaged in this expedition, 
having been disbanded, and Captain Gulp having 



MASSACRE AT THE PINEY BOTTOM. 395 

gone home, some of these mulattoes followed him to 
his own house, called him out at night, and accused 
him of whipping one of their brothers. He refused 
at first to come out, and they threatened to burn the 
house ; but still he refused, until they began to apply 
the fire ; then he came out between two young men, 
one on each side, holding them by the arms, and 
begging for his life ; but the Turners told the young 
men that, if they did not wish to share the same fate 
with Gulp, they must leave him. They did so ; and 
he was immediately shot down in his own yard. It 
is said that they not only murdered him, but his 
family also, and then burned his house which stood 
about a mile below Hunt's Blufi", Old Major Pon- 
cey's wife was Gulp's daughter. 

After the close of the war. General Wade had John 
McNeill tried for his life on account of the robbery 
and murders committed at the Piney Bottom ; but he 
was acquitted, principally by the oath of Golonel Fol- 
som, who testified that John McNeill was at his house 
at or about sundown, the evening before the massacre. 
This made the impression on the minds of the jury 
that, considering the distance, it was not probable he 
could have been there by the time the attack was 
made ; but neither old Daniel Munro, nor Marren 
McDaniel, nor the weaver were called into court, 
either because they could not be found, or because it 
was not known that they were acquainted with any 
facts involved in the case. They could have testified 
that John McNeill had shown them the cloth next 
day, and told them that he got it at the Piney Bot- 



31)G REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

torn, where tliey had killed so many of Colonel 
Wade's company the night before ; and by their tes- 
timony he must have been condemned. Perhaps he 
had bribed them, and kept them concealed in some 
place where they could not be found, until the trial 
would be decided; but however this may have been, 
from all these circumstances John McNeill was ever 
after known by the name of Cunning John. 



BATTLE OF ELTZABETIITOWN, ETC. 897 



BATTLE AT ELIZABETHTOWN, WITH ONE OR TWO SUBSE- 
QUENT TRANSACTIONS, AND SOME ACCOUNT OF COLO- 
NEL SLINGSBY, WHO COMMANDED THE TORIES ON 
THAT OCCASION. 

There was a noble band of Whigs on the Cape 
Fear, who, though few in number, did good service 
in the cause of freedom, and who deserve from pos- 
terity more honor than they have yet received. With 
the fearful odds of five or ten to one against them, they 
adhered to their principles with heroic firmness, and 
in the darkest hour of gloom and depression, defended 
them with. Spartan valor. Perhaps in no conflict 
during the war, so far at least as North Carolina was 
concerned, was there displayed more military skill, 
more boldness of enterprise, or more promptness and 
vigor of action, than by the Whigs of Cape Fear, in 
the battle of Elizabethtown. At this time, their 
prospects in that region were more gloomy than at 
any other period during the war ; and the difficulties 
in their way were apparently so insurmountable that 
none but men of strong nerves and brave hearts 
would have encountered them. When this enter- 
prise was determij;ied on with such daring courage, 
and cro'Wned with such triumphant success, the Bri- 
tish had possession of Wilmington, and were trying 
every scheme to extend their power and influence up 
the river. The .Tories had Fayetteville virtually, if 
not actually, in possession ; and a body of them, con- 
sisting of three hundred or more, under the command 
of Colonels Slingsbv and Godden, two talented, brave 



398 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

and vigilant officers, had taken post at Elizabethtown, 
the seat of justice for Bladen county. Thus over- 
powered by numbers and left without succour from 
other parts of the State, the Whigs along the river 
had been plundered of their property and driven from 
their homes to wander as fugitives in a land which 
they were toiling to redeem from oppression. About 
.sixty of them had taken refuge in Duplin county ; and 
were suffering privations and hardships which men of 
sound principles and high aspirations could not pa- 
tiently endure. Most of them were men of property, 
intelligence and tried patriotism ; but were now with- 
out a shelter of their own, half starved and almost 
naked. Any set of men of their character and in 
their circumstances, would become desperate; and 
they resolved that rather than bear it any longer, 
they would attack their enemies in their strong hold, 
let the consequences be what they might. It was 
like going on a forlorn hope ; for when the venture 
was once made, they must conquer or die. Their 
enemies who were five or six to one, were well pro- 
tected, high-minded, and ably commanded. When 
they had once crossed the river, if unsuccessful, there 
could be no retreating in that direction before a 
powerful and exasperated foe. If they attempted to 
escape down the river, they would certainly be taken 
by the Tories and delivered up to the British. If 
they went to the south or west, the same fate awaited 
them ; but they had strong confidence in the good-* 
ness of their cause, and their courage was adequate 
to the emergency. 



BATTLE OF ELIZABETllTOWNj ETC. 899 

Many of this heroic and patriotic band were very 
competent to command in any expedition of the kind ; 
for several of them were officers of some repute, and 
had been more or less, in actual service. "Col. 
Owen had fought at Camden ; Morehead had com- 
manded the nine months' men sent to the south; 
Robeson and Ervin were the Percys of the Whig 
party; and Col. Brown had fought under Governor 
Tryon at the battle of Alamance. He had been 
wounded at the battle of the Great Bridge, under 
General Howe, near Norfolk, in Virginia;" and he 
had been actively engaged in military operations 
during most of the war, or at least during the year 
previous, as will appear in another place. In this 
expedition, so full of peril and of difficulty, the com- 
mand was given to Col. Brown, probably as a cour- 
tesy due to his greater experience in the military 
service, as well as to his age ; and nobly did he fulfil 
the expectations of his comrades. 

Having made their arrangements, and having col- 
lected all the ammunition they could, they set off 
without tents or equipage and without any commis- 
sary's stores except a little "jerked beef and bread," 
which they carried in their pockets ; and, after 
marching fifty miles through a dreary and desolate 
country, in July, 1781. When they arrived, in the 
night, on the north bank of the Cape Fear, a little 
below Elizabethtown, there was not a boat to be found 
on that side of the river. Col. Slingsby was a man 
of too much good sense to leave any such means of 
annoyance within reach of his enemies, or to neglect 



400 REVOLUTJONARi' INCIDENTS. 

any preparations for defence that were within his 
power. As in all military encampments, guards and 
sentries were regularly posted ; no boats were suffered 
to remain on the other side of the river ; and, to all 
appearance, they were secured against any force 
then in the country. But the river must be crossed, 
or this heroic band of patriots would be disappointed 
of their object; and, if they failed in this enterprise, 
Elizabethtown, which was at the head of navigation 
on the Cape Fear, would become the stronghold of 
Toryism ; and that whole region, on many accounts 
so important to the cause of Independence, would 
soon be overrun by British troops. 

Some of the tallest amongst them, having made a 
trial by wading into the deepest parts, said it could 
gave a prompt and hearty assent. The preparation 
be crossed, and must be crossed; to which all present 
for crossing was soon made by stripping off their 
clothes and tying them on their heads. Then grasp- 
ing their guns by the barrel and turning up the 
breech so as to keep the lock above water, they reso- 
lutely entered the stream ; and while the tallest had 
no difficulty, those who were of low stature could 
barely keep their mouths and noses above water; 
but they all got over safe. The Rubicon was now 
past and there was no retreat, nor was there any 
quailing or " weakness of knees" in that patriotic 
corps. Resuming their dress and fixing their arms 
for action, they took up their line of march through 
the dense growth of lofty cane which then covered 
the low grounds. After ascending the precipitous 



BATTLE OF ELIZABETIITOWN; ETC. 401 

hill on the other side and crossing what was called 
the "King's Road," they halted for a few minutes to 
form themselves in order and prepare for the attack ; 
but everything had been so well arranged by the 
officer in command, and so well understood by every 
man in the corps that very little time was requisite 
for this purpose. Then, in about two hours after 
crossing the river, a mile below, they commenced a 
furious attack on the enemy, by driving in the sen- 
tries and outposts ; and, having made such an auspi- 
cious beginning, they rushed on with increasing con- 
fidence until they came in conflict with the main body 
which consisted chiefly of Highlanders, many of whom 
had been enured to the perils of warfare, and all of 
whom were as brave, loyal, a'nd high-minded as any of 
his Majesty's subjects. An onset so sudden and vio- 
lent threw them for a moment into disorder ; but they 
were soon rallied by their gallant leader, and for a 
time made a most determined resistance. When 
their leaders fell, the rest soon gave way and the 
rout became general. In this afi'air, heroic courage 
and well-conducted stratagem were happily combined. 
Everything had been so well arranged by Col. Brown 
before they ventured within the precincts of danger, 
and the whole plan had been so well understood by 
every man belonging to the corps, that, even amidst 
the darkness of the night and the melee of battle, no 
mistakes were made, no serious disorder was produced, 
and the whole scene was enacted just as it had been 
previously designed; but with less difiiculty and 
in shorter time than they had anticipated. 
34=^ 



402 KEVOLUTlUNAltY INCIDENTS. 

'' After the first volley, Colonel Brown, with six 
officers who, for the want of a more appropriate word, 
maybe termed his staff; and among whom were those 
gallant spirits, Owen, Morehead and Robeson, took a 
central position, as previously arranged ; and the 
main body rushed to a point, at a specified distance, 
on his rioi;ht, and reloaded with almost inconceivable 
rapidity. The words of command were then heard 
in loud and distinct tones. On the right ! Colonel 
Dodd's company ! Advance ! The main body 
advanced and fired. Then wheeling, rushed to a 
point on the left, and reloaded as before ; and the 
order was given in the same audible voice. On the 
left ! Colonel Gillespie s company ! Advance ! 
The main body advanced and fired. Again. On 
tlie right ! Colonel Dickinson s company ! Advance ! 
The main body advanced and fired, and wheeling, 
rushed to the designated point. Again. On the 
left ! Major WrigMs company ! Advance ! The 
main body advanced and fired. 

" This ruse de guerre was carried on until the Whig 
band was multiplied into ten or eleven companies. 
It succeeded in making an impression on the garrison 
that it was attacked by a body of one thousand strong, 
led on by experienced officers. 

" The self-possession and the energy with which 
the orders were given, and the celerity and anima- 
tion with which they were executed, under circum- 
stances of recent fatigue and exposure, are almost 
unparalleled in history. During the time occupied 
in these evolutions, Colonel Broivn, with his staff, 



BATTLE OF ELiZABETUTUWN^ ETC. 403 

as I have called them, was improving accidents and 
makiyig occasions for taking deadly aim. 

" There must have been a sublimity in the scene. 
The darkness of night, broken by a sheet of flame, 
at every successive volley of the Whig band ; the 
outcries and clamor; the disorderly firing of the 
Tories, the gallant efforts of Colonel Slingsby to 
restore order, and to form his lines ; his fall, so 
sanguinely desired by his enemies, and yet so much 
regretted by his friends ; and the total rout of the 
garrison, would, to a person not engaged in the con- 
flict, if such a one could have been there, have pre- 
sented a spectacle of horror which can be more easily 
imagined than described." 

The onset of the Whigs, which was at a late hour 
of the night, was so sudden and so unexpected, that 
the Tories were necessarily thrown into confusion ; 
and the assailants pursued the advantage thus gained 
with so much eagerness, and with such well conducted 
stratagem, that they had no time to rally. Some 
tried to shelter themselves in and around the houses, 
but were so hotly pursued that they were driven from 
every refuge. In concerting their plan of operations, 
it had been agreed on by the Whigs, as a measure 
necessary to their success, that they would aim at 
the officers and prominent active men ; and, as this, 
like every other part of the scheme was strictly car- 
ried out, the consequence was, that the officers were 
the principal sufl"erers. The number of killed and 
wounded, on either side, is not known ; but Godden 
was killed on the spot; Slingsby was so severely 



404 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

wounded that he died the next evening ; and most of 
the subaltern officers were either killed or badly 
wounded. When their leaders fell, the men fled in 
every direction ; and many of them, probably the 
larger part, jumped into a deep ravine, which con- 
cealed and protected them from their pur&uers. With 
this place every one in that region is familiar ; and 
as the stranger floats down the Cape Fear, on any 
one of the boats which now ply its waters, when she 
comes opposite to the place, one and another of the 
crew or passengers exclaim, " There's the Tory 
Hole," which generally gives rise to an account of 
the battle, if there is any one present who can give 
it, and then to a good deal of pleasant chit-chat 
among the passengers. 

Of the character and circumstances of the com- 
manding ofiicers on the Tory side, we know very little ; 
and it is now too late in the day to get much informa- 
tion that is reliable. Godden is said to have been a 
man of courage, activity and enterprise, who was 
well calculated for the post which he held as a parti- 
zan officer, and whose death was an irreparable loss 
to the royalists. Slingsby was talented and well 
educated, amiable in his disposition and honorable in 
his principles. When the writer was down the Cape 
Fear, in 1852, he found that the name of Colonel 
Slingsby was still mentioned with much respect in 
that region, and by all classes of, the community. 
The remark was frequently made that he had, while 
living, the respect of both parties, and that he 
deserved a better fate. After his death, the most 



BATTLE OF ELIZABETHTOWN, ETC. 405 

unequivocal testimony was borne to his worlli, and 
the most gratifying respect Avas paid to his memory 
by the V/higs of that region. Nothing but dire 
necessity could have induced the Whigs on that occa- 
sion to aim at his life; for, as a man, they esteemed 
him highly, and were not unmindful of his past 
favors ; but if they loved him they loved their country 
more. 

Col. Slingsby was an Englishman, and probably a 
native of London, where he is known to have had 
property. He married there and engaged in busi- 
ness ; but his wife having died in a short time after 
their marriage he emigrated to North Carolina and 
settled on the lower Cape Fear where he married a 
second time; and, before his death, had three 
children, two sons who died young, and a daughter 
who is still living. He had not been long in this 
country when the difficulties with the mother coun- 
try commenced — not long enough to get clear of his 
early associations or of his English feelings and 
predilections; but these would not have induced 
him to take up arms against the country of his adop- 
tion to which he was now bound by the strong ties 
of affinity and affection, if it had not been for the 
almost irrisistible influence which was exerted upon 
him. So strongly did he feel opposed to fighting or 
doing any thing against his adopted country that, 
after having positively refused the offer of a commis- 
sion, he had engaged passage for himself and family 
back to England; but was met by a commission, we 
presume from Governor Martin, which was almost 



406 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENT?. 

forced upon him. From the Journal of the Provin- 
cial Congress, it seems that he was taken prisoner 
at the battle of Moore's Creek or very soon after 
and carried to Halifax ; but whether this was before 
or after receiving his commission as Colonel, I have 
not learned. He was however soon discharged, and 
returned to his family, when we hear no more of him 
until we hear of his death. 

When his daughter grew up she married the Rev. 
William Bingham who, having devoted himself to the 
business of teaching, after trying two or three other 
places, located himself in Orange county, near the 
Cross Road Church, where for many years he kept 
a classical school of high repute. He died a number 
of years ago highly esteemed by all who knew him 
and with the comfortable prospect of a blessed im- 
mortality. His sons William and John Bingham, 
have followed in his steps and have done more 
perhaps, for their age, to raise the standard of 
classical education than any other men in the country. 
His widow, the daughter of Col. Slingsby, is still 
living with some of her children in w^estern Ten- 
nessee; and, in addition to the gratification of 
knowing that her descendants are among our most 
estimable and useful citizens, is enjoying a comfort- 
able old age and the respect of a large circle of 
friends and acquaintances. Colonel Slingsby is said 
to have been a pious man ; and, according to the 
promises of the Bible, and the general experience of 
the church, the blessings of divine grace seem to 



BATTLE OF ELTZABETHTOWN; ETC. 407 

thus far descended, without any dimunition, upon his 
offspring in their successive generations. 

While the colonies had no other design than to ob- 
tain a redress of grievances, he appears to have co- 
operated heartily with them, but his mind was not 
prepared for independence or a separation. He had 
taken the oath of allegiance himself, and he knew 
that most of the colonists, especially in that region, 
had done the same. Believing, therefore, that the 
welfare of the country depended on its connexion 
with Great Britain, and that the people owed allegi- 
ance to the King which, being enforced by the 
highest sanctions, they could not violate without sub- 
jecting themselves to the displeasure of heaven, he 
abhorred the idea of rebellion under such circum- 
stances, and held back when measures were taken for 
a separation ; but feeling, as a British subject, that 
they had the right of petition and remonstrance, and 
whatever else could be done without an actual rup- 
ture of the ties which bound them to the established 
government, with patriotic feelings and honesty of 
purpose, he appears to have united with them in all 
their measures, until the commencement of actual 
hostilities. This is not a matter of conjecture or in- 
ference on the part of the writer, for there is docu- 
mentary proof showing the confidence which, at that 
period, his fellow-citizens placed in him, and his 
readiness to co-operate with them in their measures 
of defence. For the following paper, I am indebted 
to Gov. Swain, and I have no doubt that it will be 
read with interest. 



408 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

*'At an occasional meeting of the Wilmington 
Committee, Nov. 20th, 1775, we find Col. Slingsby 
appointed on a Committee for taking measures to 
secure the town against the invasion of the British, 
as appears by the following extract from their 
records. 

" The Committee taking into consideration the 
danger with which the inhabitants on Cape Fear 
river, are threatened by the King's ships, now in the 
harbor, and the open and avowed contempt and vio- 
lation of justice, in the conduct of Governor Martin, 
w^ho, with the assistance of the said ships, is endea- 
voring to carry off the artillery, the property of this 
Province, and the gift of his late Majesty of blessed 
memory, for our protection from foreign invasions, 
have 

"Resolved, That Messrs. John Forster, William 
Wilkinson and John Slingsby, or any one of them, 
be empowered to procure necessary vessels, boats and 
chains, to sink in such parts of the channel as they, 
or any of them, may think proper. To agree for the 
purchase of such boats and other materials as may be 
wanted ; and to have them valued, that the owners 
may be reimbursed by the public." 

According to my information, which is considered 
reliable, he often, and as far as he could, protected 
the property of his Whig neighbors; and on one oc- 
casion at least, he saved the life of a Whig at the 
risk of his own. A body of Tories, whether of his 
own men or another party, is not now distinctly re- 
collected, having come on this man in the house of a 



BATTLE OF ELIZABETHTOWN, ETC. 409 

neighbor, were about to take his life, when Col. 
Slingsby, coming in at the moment, interposed, and 
told them they must not kill him ; but when they 
showed a determination to accomplish their purpose, 
he stepped up to the man where he stood by the wall, 
and, turning his face to the assailants, told them that 
if they killed that man, naming him, they must kill 
him first. This had the intended effect, and he did 
not leave his friend until he got him placed beyond 
the reach of those who were thirsting for his blood. 
Many anecdotes of a similar kind, I am told, are, or 
were for a long time current over that region ; and, 
probably, they might be gathered up yet, by taking 
a little pains, for the traditionary incidents of that 
period had such a thrilling interest, and occurred 
under circumstances of such an impressive character, 
that it will be long before they can be entirely for- 
gotten among such a people. 

But I have in my possession, an account of Col. 
Slingsby, which was written by one of his descendants, 
a grand-daughter, who is well known and highly re- 
spected in the country, and which I take pleasure in 
giving to the public. Although it was not written 
for the press, as the reader will perceive at once, yet 
it is written with so much frankness, simplicity of 
style, and manifest freedom from any disposition to 
exaggerate, that I prefer giving it in her own words. 
When all of us and the descendants of those who 
were actors, on either side, in the perilous scenes of 
that day, are under such strong temptations to pre- 
sent the character and deeds of their ancestors in 

35 



410 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

the best possible light, we are pleased to find one 
whose candor and modesty make us feel that what 
we are reading is the simple truth, so far at least as 
it was known to the writer. The account was writ- 
ten at my request, and was intended merely to fur- 
nish the facts for me to use in whatever way I might 
think proper, and such was then my design ; but I 
have no doubt that the reader will be more gratified 
with its perusal in the original form ; and we feel 
confident that in this we are doing the writer no 
wrong, or, at all events, if it is taking a little more 
liberty than courtesy would dictate, that it will not 
be regarded as an unpardonable offence. 

" Colonel John Slingsby, was an Englishman by 
birth, and I suppose from London, as he is known to 
have had possessions there. His age is not known, 
but he came to this country after the death of his 
first wife, who lived only a short time after their 
marriage. He married in Bladen county, Mrs. 
McAllister, a native of Scotland, whose maiden 
name was Isabella McNeill ; and by her he had a 
daughter and two sons. The sons died young. The 
daughter, Mrs. Bingham, widow of the Rev. William 
Bingham, is still alive in Tennessee. The Slingsby 
whom you mentioned as having been taken prisoner, 
must have been the same, as I have always heard 
that there was no other of that name in this country. 

'' Soon after hostilities commenced between the 
colonies here, and the mother country, a commission 
was offered to Mr. Slingsby, but he refused it, say- 
ing that, "although he believed the English cause 



BATTLE OF ELIZABETHTOWN, ETC. 411 

to be just, he had no wish to fight against his adopted 
country ;" and he had engaged a passage for himself 
and family back to his native land, when a commis- 
sion was almost forced upon him. He was brought 
up a Quaker, and joined the Church of England, 
after he became a man. Perhaps, this may account 
in part, for his unwillingness to fight ; but he had 
taken the oath of allegiance before he left England, 
and being a conscientious man, he felt bound by his 
oath. He was never in the regular British army, 
but commanded, what ive call, a band of Scotch 
Tories ; and had been from home only a few days, 
when he was wounded in the throat at Elizabethtown. 
He was treated very kindly by the Whig officers, 
who had his wounds dressed, and took him to his 
plantation. Finding that his wife was in Wilming- 
ton, they took the family boat, and set off for that 
place, but he died before reaching it. When his 
property was confiscated, the Whig officers bought a 
valuable plantation and some of the negroes, and 
gave them to his wife. She received a pension from 
the English government during her life. Mr. Slingsby, 
was a merchant, and a man of character, talent and 
refinement. I have a confused recollection of many 
things which I heard in my youth, but of which I 
could now give no correct account. There is one 
thing however, which I do distinctly remember, to 
have heard from two old gentlemen — Mr. Manly and 
Mr. Grove — which is, that Colonel Slingsby, often 
protected the lives and property of his Whig neigh- 
bors. And I have met with a Whig soldier, who 



412 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

was in the skirmish at Elizabethtown, and saw the 
Colonel's wound dressed, who gave him the same 
character. 

" I recollect an instance which, though a little 
thing in itself, may serve to illustrate his character. 
A party of Tories came to the house of an old man, 
by the name of McLaughlin, who took him, bound 
him, and had their muskets ready to shoot him, 
when Colonel Slingsby happened to come over, and 
interceded for the old man's life ; but not being able 
to succeed in that way, he resolutely placed himself 
between him and the guns, and told them, "that if 
they shot McLaughlin, it should be through his 
body." They let him go. This was before he had 
entered the service. 

" The anecdote of the Methodist preacher, which 
you wished me to relate, I had from the old gentle- 
man's own lips. Mr. O'Kelly, then a ^'oung Metho- 
dist preacher, when travelling over the country and 
preaching, was taken at the house of a friend or ac- 
quaintance, by a small party of Tories. His horse, 
saddle and saddle-bags were taken from him, and he 
was tied to a peach tree. A party of Whigs coming 
up just at the time, a skirmish ensued ; and although, 
he was between the two fires, he was not hurt. Be- 
fore this skirmish was ended, Colonel Slingsby came 
up with a larger party of men, and the Whigs were 
dispersed. Recognizing O'Kelly, the Colonel asked 
him to preach for them, which he did, and, drawing 
up his men in good order, he stood with his head 
uncovered, during the whole of the service. Mr. 



BATTLE OF ELlZABETHTOAVNj ETC. 413 

O'Kellj said, when relating this anecdote to me, 
' Ah, child ! your grandfather was a gentleman.' 
An old lady who was well acquainted with Mr. 
O'Kelly, tells me, that the man at whose house he 
was taken, was also taken, bound to the same tree, 
and killed in the skirmish. She had heard him re- 
late the anecdote frequently — I, only once. 

*' I know of no one now, from whom any further 
information could be obtained. More than twenty 
years ago, when in Robeson and Richmond coun- 
ties, I met with several old men, who had been well 
acquainted with Colonel Slingsby, and they all spoke 
of him as a humane, honorable and generous hearted 
man. They were all members of the Presbyterian 
church, and some of them had been under his com- 
mand. 

" I do not wish you to use my name as I intended 
merely to furnish you with the facts, and let you 
clothe them yourself." 

May 11th, 1853. 

The battle of Elizabethtown, near the close of the 
war, was regarded by the people in that region as 
next in importance to the one at Moore's creek, in 
the beginning ; and it is much to be regretted that 
an account of it was not written at the time or before 
the most intelligent of the men who were prominent 
actors in the scene were called away from this stage 
of action. It turned the tide of victory and broke 
the power of the Tories. The Whigs became ani- 
mated with hope, and the others were sunk in des- 
35* 



41-4 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

pondence. Such was the impression made upon thcra 
by their defeat on this occasion, and by the. loss which 
they sustained, that, although they had entire sway 
from the Cape Fear to the Pedee, they made very 
few efforts afterwards, and they were not of a formi- 
dable kind. Many of them, under the apprehension 
that further movements of an aggressive kind would 
be made by the Whigs, fled for refuge to Wilming- 
ton, then in posesssion of a British force, under the 
command of Major Craig ; but the Whigs knew well 
that if left to concert and prosecute their measures 
without "let or hindrance," the effects of their late 
victory would be all lost, and they would have their 
work to do over again. They were, therefore, on 
the alert, and were taking measures to confine the 
operations of the enemy, or to prevent them from 
doing mischief. For this purpose a small encamp- 
ment was formed a few miles above Wilmington, 
under the command of Colonel Leonard, which was 
rather a hazardous move; but it was dispersed by a 
detachment of the British, which was sent up for the 
purpose. The account of this affair, which was pub- 
lished first in the Raleigh Register, and copied from 
that into Wheeler's History of North Carolina, is 
one of some interest, as illustrative of the perils and 
sufferings to which the patriots of that day were sub- 
ject, and we will give it at full length in the words 
of the author. 

" Upon the dispersion of the Tories in that suc- 
cessful sortie at Elizabethtown, above referred to, by 
the handful of Whigs under Captain, afterwards 



BATTLE OF ELIZABETHTOWNj ETC. 415 

General, Brown, many of the Tories fled for refuge 
to Wilmington, then in possession of the British, 
under the command of Major Craig, while a portion 
of that same Spartan Whig band, joined by a few 
other choice spirits of the county of Brunswick, 
under the command of Colonel Leonard, formed an 
encampment above Wilmington, and not far from the 
river, for the purpose of cutting off supplies from 
being carried by the Tories to the enemy, and to 
prevent their own and their neighbors' slaves from 
flocking down to the British camp, and^for general 
and mutual protection. 

" This encampment was a source of great annoy- 
ance and vexation to the British commander, and 
the object of special hatred and revenge to his new 
recruits, who had just been so handsomely whipped 
at Elizabethtown. It was resolved at head-quarters 
that this encampment should be broken up, and a large 
force was immediately detached on this service. A 
portion of them was sent up the main road, and were 
to wait in ambush at a bridge on a stream then 
known as Hood's creek, not far below the camp, 
while other companies, under the guide of one of 
these Tories, who well knew the passways and situa- 
tions of the country, were to be conducted and 
piloted above, so as efi'ectually to surround the camp 
and cut off retreat. Orders were given in the hear- 
ing of the guide, to the chief officer of this expedi- 
tion, to slioio no quarters^ hut to put to instant death 
every Whig that should he found with arms in their 



4L6 REVULUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

hands After early night fall this band set out on 
their murderous errand. 

*' Upon hearing these savage and blood-thirsty 
orders, their guide relented. Many of the men who 
were in that camp had been his near neighbors and 
friends, had often done him acts of kindness, and his 
heart quailed at the contemplation of the scene before 
him, and his inhuman instrumentality in having them 
cut off and butchered. Accordingly, after leaving 
the main road, he feigned to be lost, and purposely 
avoiding the right track, he kept them wandering in 
the woods from swamp to swamp, until, as he sup- 
posed, sufficient time would elapse for the camp to 
have notice of the approach of the direct force, and 
be enabled to make good their retreat. 

" The Whig force did not exceed thirty, and were 
chiefly mounted men ; planters and men of character 
and substance. They had finished their scanty sup- 
per, had secured their horses for the night, and with 
their saddles for a pillow, and their saddle-blankets 
for a bed, they had lain down to rest, unconscious of 
their danger and of the horrible destiny that had 
been prepared for them. 

" The British force had in the meantime arrived at 
the bridge and were anxiously awaiting the signal 
for their onset. The night passed on, and yet no 
sound was heard. They became impatient, and gave 
a blast from their horn to apprize their comrades of 
their presence and of their readiness to receive their 
response. The sound was heard in the Whig camp. 
*' What noise is that?" said a dreamy sentry, as he 



BATTLE OF ELIZABETIITOWN, ETC. 417 

paced his lonely rounds. " Oh, nothing," said 
another, " but the trumpet of some lubberly boat- 
man." Another, and another blast, louder and 
louder, is given. The camp is aroused. "No boat- 
man belonging to these waters," said one, " can 
make that noise ; they are the notes of the Kent 
hugle^ and in the hands too of a practised master. '' 
" They proceed from down the road, and from about 
the bridge," said the officer in command. " That 
place must be reconnoitered. We must know what 
all that means. Who will volunteer and go down?" 
No one spoke. " Come, Manly," said he, "you are 
always ready in a forlorn hope, and that fine black 
charger of yours can outrun danger itself; will you 
go?" " Aye, aye, sir," said Manly; " who will go 
with me to bring back the news if I should lose my 
night cap f "I, I, I," said Mansfield and two 
young Smiths. Their horses were soon caparisoned 
and mounted, their holsters examined, and away 
they galloped to the bridge. Upon their arrival, 
every thing was as quiet and silent as death. They 
could neither see nor hear any one, but their horses 
exhibited alarm and refused to proceed. 

"All right on this side," said Manly; "let us see 
how it is on the other ;" and thrusting their spurs 
into their horses' sides, they dashed across the birdge. 
As soon as they had cleared it, up rose the British 
and Tories from their concealment on each side of 
the road, their muskets and bayonets gleaming in 
the moonlight ; and as these men turned their horses 
to retreat, the officer in command sung out, " Give 



418 KEVULUTlUNAilY INCIDENTS. 

it to them," and a platoon of musketry fired upon 
them. The top of Manly's hat was shot away. 
One of the Smiths was badly wounded, his horse shot 
down on the bridge, and in falling caught his rider 
under him ; and the British, as they passed, perforated 
the body of the poor fellow with their bayonets, and 
commenced a running pursuit. The camp, in the 
meantime, had heard the firing, the guide was still 
lost in the swamps, and all but poor Smith made good 
their retreat. Thus this gallant band of chivalrous 
and devoted spirits, through an almost miraculous 
intervention of an over-ruling Providence, escaped 
the well planned stratagem projected for their heart- 
less and cold-blooded massacre, and were spared to 
their families and country." 

" The names of the men concerned in this affair 
are well known along the Cape Fear; and their 
descendants are occupying their place with respecta- 
bility and usefulness. Colonel Thomas Owen, was 
the father of the late Governor Owen and of General 
Owen, who is now living in Wilmington, and is highly 
esteemed by all who know him. " He was a warm- 
hearted friend, generous to a foe, and as brave a 
soldier as ever wore a sword." "Morehead was a 
tall, thin man, of mild and amiable temper. He 
lived near Elizabethtown, and died of consumption. 
Manly, who held a captain's commission, and was an 
active partizan officer in the militia during the war, 
removed to the back country, and settled in the 
county of Chatham, where he was distinguished 



BATTLE OF ELIZABETHTOWN, ETC. 



419 



through a long life, for the strictest integrity and 
unflinching firmness." 

The account of the transactions at Elizabethtown, 
and lower down the Cape Fear, except what relates 
to the character and history of Colonel Slingsby, has 
been taken, substantially, from the Wilmington pa- 
pers and Wheeler's History ; but I have not copiedjt 
verbatim, only in part. To those who love to con- 
template the toils and sufferings, the patriotic spirit 
and heroic deeds of our forefathers, the facts wiU be 
interesting, though the style may not be attractive. 
What the writer has here given, is only a specimen 
of the conflicts and deeds of cruelty, or of patriotic 
devotion to the cause of freedom, which, for two or 
three years, were frequent in that region ; but they 
cannot be detailed in this volume, without transcend- 
ing the limits assigned. 



420 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 



FREDERICK GOSS. 



During the latter period of the war, though the 
precise date is not recollected, a number of Tories 
came to the house of Frederick Goss, who lived in 
what is now Davidson county, about ten miles south- 
east from Lexington ; and plundered it of all the bed 
clothing, about seventy yards of homespun cloth, with 
whatever else they could find that was worth carrying 
away, and a young and valuable horse. Frederick 
Goss and his son, Jacob Goss, then only fifteen or 
sixteen years of age, with a bound boy, by the name 
of Alexander Slader, were in a field, at some distance 
from the house, pulling flax ; and when the Tories 
went to the field for the purpose of making them 
prisoners, Slader hid himself in the flax, so he 
escaped their notice. Frederick Goss, being some- 
what advanced in life, was not made a prisoner ; but 
they took his son, Jacob Goss, who was the father of 
•■Jacob Goss, Esq,, now one of the special court in 
Davidson county. They carried away Jacob Goss 
as a prisoner, and his young horse, with the plunder 
which they had taken in and about the house. After 
night they took the whole to a Tory camp, which was 
distant from any road and in a very secluded place, 
where they were about to tie Jacob ; but one of their 
number, having some acquaintance with Jacob, per- 
suaded them not to bind him. There came up during 
the night a hard rain, and they all got very wet. 
When it was over they made a large fire for the pur- 
pose of drying themselves, and on becoming dry, 



FREDERICK GOSS. 421 

tliey all fell into a sound sleep, when Jacob went to 
his young horse, cut him loose, and then jumping on 
his back, he whipped off and got home safe. The 
neighbors were soon raised and went in pursuit. 
Before going far they were informed that the Tories, 
their enemies, had forded the river near Massey's 
ferry, which was not far from the confluence of the 
Uwharic and Yadkin rivers. The Whigs were led or 
commanded by Captain Azariah Merrill, and before 
getting to the river he met a man who told him that 
they had crossed. Being conducted by him they 
went over, and soon came upon the Tories, where 
they had halted and were lying by. Merrill had a 
strong company, and leaving them behind, with orders 
suited to any contingency that would be likely to 
occur, he went forward himself to reconnoitre, or try 
if he could discover their precise location. When, 
passing a hollow or ravine, he came upon one of 
their sentinels, who raised and cocked his gun ; but 
Captain Merrill shot him down before he had time 
to fire. This brought on a general skirmish, which 
was severe but short. Not one of the Whigs, how- 
ever, was killed, and only one wounded, by a ball in 
the thigh ; for the Tories were attacked so suddenly 
and furiously, that they w^ere not able to get into any 
kind of order, and could take no deliberate aim. 

The Tories, it seems, gave only one fire, and that 
was scattering, or given very much at random, until 
they fled, and took the boat at Massey's ferry with 
the intention of returning, to what is now the David- 
son or Montgomery side of the Yadkin ; but the 
86 



422 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

Whigs were firing on them all the way as they rowed 
across, and they kept jumping out into the water 
until not more than four or five remained in the boat 
when it landed. A number of the Tories were killed 
and some of those who jumped into the river were 
drowned. This made peaceable times in that region 
of country, and only one man was killed by the 
Tories from this time to the close of the war. 

A man, by the name of John Cornelison, who lived 
near the lead or silver mines in Davidson county, 
was killed in his own house, and in a manner which 
indicated great barbarity. When several of them 
went in and fell upon him with clubs and swords, he 
got back under the mantel-piece, when they shot him 
down, and he fell into the fire; but his wife pulled 
him out. Next morning, Mrs. Ann Briggs, the 
mother-in-law of Jacob Goss, Esq., who was originally 
a Miss Collins, from the neighborhood of Wilming- 
ton, went over and saw the body of Cornelison, The 
hearth was deluged with blood, and the house pre- 
sented a most frightful scene. 

The man who shot Cornelison was known, and 
Cornelison had a relation by the name of Spirey, 
who was determined to revenge his death. He pur- 
sued the Tory who shot Cornelison, and followed his 
trail into Tennessee. At length he reached the 
house of a woman who was a relation of his ; and 
thinking himself out of danger, he stopped there for 
the night ; but Spirey was there and, with the 
stealthiness of an Indian, was watching round the 
house, when he heard the murderer tell his relation, 



FREDERICK GOSS. 423 

the mistress of the house, that he T\^ould pull off his 
clothes to sleep ; for he had not had them off since he 
left North Carolina. While he was stripping and 
preparing for bed, Spirey, being certain of his man, 
run the muzzle of his gun through a crack or opening 
between the logs, and shot him dead. Spirey then 
returned to his home in North Carolina ; and this 
affair was the last of the kind that occurred during 
the struggle for independence. Such scenes present 
to us the horrors of civil war in a strong light, and 
while they were the price of our liberties, they should 
serve as a perpetual warning to guard, most vigi- 
lantly and strenuously, against every thing of the 
kind to the end of time. 



424 REVOLUTIONARY INCIUENTS. 



WILLIAM GUMMING S & CO. 

Towards the close of the year 1780, probably in 
the month of December, William Cummings, John 
Faddis and William Crabtree, citizens of Hillsboro', 
went out one morning before day on a fox hunt, and 
to avoid as much as possible, the danger of falling 
into the hands of enemies, they went into a section, 
six or eight miles east or northeast from the village, 
where the people were nearly all in favor of indepen- 
dence ; for, at that time when the Tories were nearly 
everywhere so impudent and so confident of success, 
such a small party could not go into any other than 
a Whig neighborhood without running a great risk of 
being killed or taken prisoners. A little after sun- 
rise, being very cold and hungry, they concluded they 
would call at the house of Thomas Couch, to warm 
themselves and get something to eat. As Couch was 
well acquainted with them, and withal a good friend 
to his country, he received them kindly and treated 
them as well as he could. Having attended to their 
horses and given directions for breakfast, he asked 
them to walk with him to his hog-pen, a hundred or 
a hundred and fifty steps from the house, and see his 
hogs that he had up fattening for his winter's meat. 
Faddis and Crabtree accepted the invitation ; but 
Cummings thought he would be more comfortable by 
the fire ; and, as the female part of the family were 
out in the kitchen preparing breakfast, he was left for 
the time beinor, to amuse himself with his own medi- 



WILLIAM CUIVIMINGS & CO. 425 

tatlons on the forthcoming breakfast or anything else 
he chose. 

There was a man living in the neighborhood, two 
or three miles off, by the name of Jake Bracken, who 
was a zealous royalist, and was always ready to im- 
prove any opportunity that occurred for aiding the 
cause of his master. He had come over that morn- 
ing, either incidentally or on an errand, or, more 
probably, had been sneaking about to see what disco- 
veries he could make. They were all of them well 
and intimately acquainted with Bracken, or had 
been before such an animosity existed between the 
royalists and the friends of liberty. Though unob- 
served himself, and perhaps had studiously kept him- 
self out of view, he had been w^here he saw the fox 
hunters when they arrived, and could also perceive 
how many went to the hog-pen and how many 
remained. Determined to improve the opportunity 
of doing something that would recommend him to 
the royal favor, he entered the house very slyly, and 
stepping up softly to Cummings, who was sitting 
with his back towards the door and his face to the 
fire, apparently absorbed in his own sage reflections 
and not dreaming of any danger, laid his hand on 
his shoulder, and saying as he did so, you are my 
prisoner, sir, and you must come along with me forth- 
with. Cummings, who was a man of a ready turn 
and a very jocose disposition, looked up at him, not 
at all disconcerted, and said to him with a pleasant 
laugh, ^' Why Jake, you must be joking, I have not 
had my breakfast yet, and I cannot go without that !" 
36* 



426 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

There was no time to be lost, and he replied with 
an air of positiveness which left no room to doubt, 
" No William, you know me well enough not to indulge 
any such thought. I am not joking but in good, solid 
earnest, and you must come along at once, without 
another moment's delay or hesitation." " Yery well," 
said Cummings, "if I must go, let us be off;" and, so 
saying, he arose briskly to his feet and started along 
with him or close behind ; but recollecting at the 
lucky moment, that when he had went into the house, 
he had hung his hunting horn to a nail on the out- 
side of the door-post, and as he stepped over the 
threshold, he jerked that down, and putting it to his 
mouth, gave it a few blasts, toote^ tootCy toote, which 
roused up the hounds from their slumbers in the cor- 
ners of the fence, and in a minute, or less, they all 
came yelping round him, as much as to say, "We are 
at your service, sir, and would be glad to have an 
opportunity of doing something right clever before 
we go home." The men at the hog-pen, concluded 
from the sound of the horn, so earnest and so quickly 
repeated, that there must be something in the wind, 
and they came with all possible expedition ; but when 
the dogs came up, expressing such a hearty good 
will to do the bidding of their master, Jake found 
himself in rather a " bad box," and " took to his 
scrapers," down the lane. He had not gone many 
rods, however until Cummings gave the hounds the 
signal, and the whole pack took after him, opening 
altogether as if they were within a few jumps of a 
run down fox, and stimulated to the utmost of their 



WILLIAM CUMiMINGS <fc CO. 427 

speed by the well-known voice of their master. Mr. 
Cummings always loved to tell this anecdote, espe- 
cially when in company with his friends, or when he 
got in the spirit of talking with any one about revo- 
lutionary times, and he would generally add, that it 
was the finest race he ever saw, until Jake had to 
take a tree at the end of the lane, where the dogs 
kept him as safe as a coon, until the men came up. 
He was then taken prisoner, carried to Hillsboro', 
and lodged in jail. Without adopting the old Latin 
maxim, that ^'fortune favors the brave," we may say 
that a kind Providence favors the good, or those who 
are heartily engaged in a good cause, and this impor- 
tant lesson may be read all through the history of the 
revolutionary war, in characters too legible to be mis- 
taken, and in the minutest as well as in the most 
important events. 



428 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 



LEWIS BOWELL. 



While the British army, when on its way to Wil- 
mington, after the Guilford battle, lay encamped for 
a day and a night on Haymount at the west end of 
Cross creek, now Fayetteville, on the ground at pre- 
sent occupied by the United States arsenal and a 
number of private dwellings. During this time the 
soldiers, in little squads, ranged through the village, 
gratifying their curiosity or their propensity to plun- 
der ; and in these plundering operations, as usual 
with the British army wherever it went, the Whig 
portion of the community were the principal sufferers. 
The soldiers, whenever they could, seemed to take a 
malicious pleasure in wantonly destroying the pro- 
perty and distressing the families of those who were 
in favor of independence ; and numberless acts of 
cruelty and of an inhuman disregard to the safety 
and comfort of the helpless, were committed over 
the country, which were utterly inconsistent with 
the boasted honor and magnanimity of the British 
nation. 

Belonging to the Whig class of the citizens in Cross 
creek at this time, was a little Dutchman, by the 
name of Lewis Bowell, who kept a bakery and did a 
very fair business in his way. If his was not the 
only establishment of the kind in the place, it was 
the most popular, and got the run of the custom. 
As he did a prosperous business he bought his flour 
by the barrel; and when the flour was consumed the 



LEWIS BO WELL. 429 

empty barrel was put up stairs, or " on the loft," as 
it was termed ; and the stock of empty barrels had 
accumulated until the upper story of his little frame 
dwelling was nearly full. A squad of soldiers, while 
ranging about in every direction, ready to seize upon 
any thing that would gratify their avarice, their 
vanity or their gastronomical propensities, on seeing 
the sign, bakery, in large letters over the door, 
thought this must be the very place for them, and 
forthwith entered the house without leave or license. 
Whether they were aware of his position on the politi- 
cal arena is not known, nor is it a matter of any 
importance. All men love good eating ; and, in order 
to quiet the clamors of a "barking stomach," will 
fight harder, and show a more reckless disregard of 
friends and foes than for any thing else. 

Having been so much harassed along the first part 
of their retreat, and having marched for the last fifty 
miles over an uninterrupted stretch of sand hills and 
pine barrens, where, if there was ever any thing good 
for man or beast, it had doubtless been destroyed by 
the recent conflicts between the Whigs and Tories, 
probably no sight could now be more grateful to them 
than a well furnished baker's shop. However this 
may have been, the temptation was not an ordinary 
one to them ; and whether impelled by the cravings 
of hunger, or by their lawless habits of plunder, they 
were not disposed to lay any restraint upon themselves. 

While they were ranging through the house in 
every direction, as chance or caprice led the way, 
some into one apartment and some into another, two 



430 REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS. 

or three concluded tliat they woukl go up stairs and 
try their luck there. As Lewis Bowell, though an 
honest Whig, was no fighting character, and when 
the British army entered Cross creek, he found him- 
self in a perilous condition. If it was not more con- 
genial to his disposition, it was certainly more in his 
line of business to let others fight the battles of free- 
dom, and for him to follow his trade and furnish 
them with the staff of life ; but now the enemy had 
come to his door and something must be done. If he 
remained there he expected nothing else than to be 
seized by them, and perhaps be put to death as a 
rebel. If he attempted to escape, he would cer- 
tainly fall into the hands of the Tories, who would, 
beyond all question, deliver him up to the British. In 
this dilemma he hit upon an expedient w^hich, if it 
did not succeed just as he wished, resulted more per- 
haps to his satisfaction. He had made his w^fe, a 
few hours before, head him up in one of the empty 
barrels; and this barrel, as the room was nearly full, 
stood not more than a few^ feet from the head of the 
stairs. 

When the two or three soldiers, already noticed, 
ascended to the top, the foremost one took hold of the 
first barrel he came to; and, supposing that it con- 
tained flour, as it felt heavy, he threw it on its side 
and gave it a kick with his foot, which sent it rolling 
down the stairs ; but when it came to the platform, 
or turn in the stairs, it struck against the side of the 
house with such force that it burst open, when, lo, 
and behold, the little Dutchman sprung to his feet, 



LEWIS BO WELL. 431 

and stood up in liis full dimensions, as Minerva 
issued from the head of Jupiter, and exclaimijig at 
the top of his voice, " Lewis Bowell ! Py Got, true 
Whig from de start. I'd as lief die as live." Such 
an utterance, made with all the earnestness which the 
occasion demanded, and accompanied with gesticula- 
tions indicative of a most desperate resolution, struck 
the batch of "red coats" with a kind of panic; and, 
supposing that every barrel contained a " true Whig 
from the start," they all moved off in short order, 
leaving Lewis Bowell in quiet possession of his empty 
barrels, and of whatever else they had not already 
eaten or destroyed. They never found out their mis- 
take ; or if they did, before they had time to soothe 
their mortified feelings, by committing violence on his 
person or further depredations on his property, the 
army took up the line of march, and they were borne 
away, some to find an untimely grave at Yorktown, 
and the rest to a returnless distance from the Ame- 
rican shore. 






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